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POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



A PRACTICAL MANUAL FOR 
BEGINNERS, FARMERS AND 
SIDE-LINE POULTRYMEN 



BY 

JEAN A. KOETHEN 



CULTIVATOR PUBLISHING CO. 
LOS ANGELES, CAL. 

1915 






Copyright 1915 

by 

Cultivator Publishing Company 



FEB 20 1^15 



'CI,A393708 



Acknowledgement and Explanation 

This book is designed as a simple outline of 
the principles of poultry culture and a resume of 
the most up-to-date methods in use among practical 
poultrymen. There is no best method for any part 
of poultry work, but there are a few broad princi- 
ples underlying all, which must be grasped by the 
learner who is seeking for best results. Naturally, 
such a book must be largely a compilation, and the 
writer acknowledges her indebtedness to the bulle- 
tins of the Missouri, Oregon, California, Iowa, 
Indiana, Maine and New York Experiment Stations, 
to Robinson's "Principles and Practice of Poultry 
Culture,** Milo Easting's "Dollar Hen," Brigham's 
"Progressive Poultry Culture,'* the Reliable Poultry 
Journal Publishing Company's Turkey and Duck 
Books, I. K. Felch's "Poultry Culture," and many 
current publications which cannot be specifically 
mentioned here. 

Grateful acknowledgment is also made of the 
courtesy of the Missouri, California and Oregon 
Experiment Stations for the loan of valuable 
photographs. 

Jean A. Koethen. 
Los Angeles, Cal. 

Jan. 15, 1914. 



Table of Contents 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Acknowledgment and Explanation ... 5 

I. Making a Beginning 9-24 

II. Housing and Yarding 25- 39 

III. Incubation 40- 63 

IV. Brooding 64- 81 

V. Feeding 82-113 

VI. Breeding 114-131 

VII. Marketing 132-141 

VIII. Sanitation and Hygiene 142-159 

IX. Fixtures and Conveniences 160-169 

X. Diseases and Vices 170-196 

XII. Ducks and Geese 213-224 

XI. Turkeys 197-212 



Text Figures 

PAGE 

Double Runs at Front of House (Fig. 3) 26 

Double Runs, Front and Rear (Fig. 4) 26 

Triple Yard System (Fig. 5) 27 

Canvas Covered Scratching Shed (Fig. 8) 32 

Framework for Portable Colony House (Fig. 9) 33 

Floor Plan for Double House (Fig. 13) 36 

Housing and Yarding (Fig. 16) 37 

Diagram Showing Air Cells (Fig. 19) 60 

Toe Markings (Fig. 20) 62 

Coop for Chicks (Fig. 23) 79 

Felch Line Breeding Chart (Fig. 27) 122 

Feed Hopper (Figs. 28 and 29) 138 

Diagram Missouri Trapnest (Fig. 39) 167 

Homemade Trapnest 168, 169 



Plates 

The Author Frontisipece 

FACING PAGE 

Lady Show- You 9 

Scratching-Shed House (Fig. 1) 25 

Shed-Roof Colony House (Fig. 2) 25 

Colony Houses (Fig. 6) . 29 

Colony House with Scratching Shed (Fig. 7) . . 29 

Interior of Laying House (Fig. 10) 33 

Front of Model Scratching-Shed House (Fig. 14) 36 

Rear of Model Scratching-Shed (Fig. 15) 40 

Hatching and Brooding Coop (Fig. 21) 60 

Brooder House and Runs (Fig. 22) 60 

Brooder House, 1200 Chick Capacity (Fig. 11) . 64 

Simplest Form of Long House (Fig. 12) 64 

Breeding House. Adjustable Doors (Fig. 17) . 82 

Portable Tarred Paper House (Fig. 18) 82 

First Feed for Baby Chicks (Fig. 32) 99 

Home Made Trough and Fountains (Fig. 33) . . 99 

Typical White Leghorn (Fig. 24) 114 

Pullet of High Vitality (Fig. 25) 114 

Rose Comb White Leghorn (Fig. 26) 114 

Movable Hopper (Fig. 30) 160 

Feed Hopper for Baby Chicks (Fig. 31) 160 

Broody Coop (Fig. 34) 162 

Brood Coop of Grocer's Box (Fig. 35) 165 

Jug Mother (Fig. 36) 165 

Oregon Trapnest (Fig. 37) 168 

Missouri Trapnest (Fig. 38) 168 

Most Profitable Crop (Fig. 42) 197 

White Diarrhea Chicks (Fig. 40) 213 

Aylesbury Ducks (Fig. 41) 213 




LADY SHOW-YOU 

281-EGG HEN OF THE NATIONAL EGG LAYING CONTEST 



Poultry for Profit 

CHAPTER I. 

Making a Beginning 

Poultry keepers, present and prospective, may be 
divided into five classes : 

1. The man v^ho makes poultry production a 
business. 

2. The man (it is more often a woman) who 
keeps chickens in the back yard to supply the family 
table. 

3. The farmer who keeps poultry as a neces- 
sary and profitable adjunct to the more important 
farm operations. 

4. The back-lotter or suburbanite who raises 
fowls as a side line to add to the family income. 

5. The person (man or woman) who is inter- 
ested in good poultry and who looks forward to 
some time becoming a producer. 

If you belong to the first class, this book is not 
for you. If you belong to one of the other four, and 
especially to the last class, you may find in it some- 
thing that will give you a clearer idea of the much 
misrepresented "chicken business" and of the prin- 
ciples which underlie successful poultry production. 

DOES POULTRY PAY.? 

As well ask if farming or plumbing or the gro- 
cery business pays. Some people will succeed in any 
business; some will fail in any. 

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars. 
But in ourselves, that we are underlings." 



10 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

Poultry work has paid many people; it may not 
pay you. 

A great deal of literature has been published, 
chiefly by people who had something to sell, calling 
attention to the easy money in the chicken business. 
It is quite time a gullible public stopped listening to 
these sirens' songs. There is no easy money in the 
chicken business. Some men are making fortunes; 
many are finding a good living ; and many others are 
adding materially to their income by raising poultry ; 
but it is through "long days of labor and nights de- 
void of ease.'' No work is more exacting, no hours 
longer, no experiences at times more discouraging, 
no business more at the mercy of untoward tides 
and vtdnds of circumstance; and yet no work has, 
for the right man or woman, more real pleasure and 
profit. 

If you have a clear head and strong feet; if you 
love good fowls and hard work; if you have it in 
you to rise at five o'clock of a cold, wet morning 
to see that chicks and hens have their meals at reg- 
ular hours, and to spend the evening going the 
rounds of your houses to see that crops are full and 
every fowl comfortable; if you can give up part of 
your Sundays and most of your holidays for the sake 
of your fowls; if you are willing to study and plan 
and keep accounts, then consider that you can suc- 
ceed with poultry. This is "a man's job." If you 
are looking for something easy, let it alone. 

HOW TO BEGIN 

The way to begin, as a famous statesman said of 
the resumption of specie payments, is to begin. Right 
where you are is the place ; right now the time ; but 
don't make the mistake of thinking you can drop 
the business you are engaged in and, without experi- 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 11 

ence, make a flying leap into "the chicken business." 
You would not think of doing it with any other busi- 
ness. Why imagine that poultry culture is so mean 
and insignificant a thing that it needs neither 
knowledge nor preparation? The best way to learn 
the "poultry business" is to hire out to a poultryman 
and learn to do by doing. The second best way is to 
begin with a few hens in your own back yard, keep 
accurate account of every cent received and spent, 
of poultry and eggs used by the family, and of 
losses, and see at the end of the year what your 
profit is. When you have made twenty-five hens pay 
a profit of a dollar or more a year per hen, you are 
ready to increase the number, and not till then. 

Some people have the knack of raising poultry; 
some have not. Put no more money into it than you 
can afford to lose till you have found out which sort 
of person you are. 

BEFORE YOU BEGIN 

Most of the people who read this book already 
know something about chickens, have "kept hens" 
after a fashion and raised chicks with hen mothers. 
Perhaps you have now some common stock on which 
you can practice. If you have not, buy or borrow a 
sitting hen. She will probably cost a dollar if she is 
large enough to be a good mother, and a setting of 
eggs will cost another dollar. Learn how to set a 
hen, how to keep her from breaking the eggs and 
from dying on the nest from the attacks of mites; 
how to save some of the chicks which do not pip the 
shell, how to raise every chick hatched, barring 
accidents, and how to keep them growing. Study 
Mother Biddy's ways and learn how she keeps her 
babies warm and at the same time hardens them. 
She is mistress of the art of combining warmth. 



12 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

fresh air, exercise, and that utterly indefinable 
something called ''mothering." When you have 
learned something of her methods, you are ready to 
make a beginning with good stock. 

There are three ways of beginning with poultry: 

1. — Buying Baby Chicks. — This is the cheapest 
and usually the safest way to begin. Baby chicks 
may be had from reliable breeders for from ten to 
twenty cents apiece. One hundred Leghorns from 
bred-to-lay stock may be bought for twelve or fifteen 
dollars, but don't buy Leghorns if you are limited to 
a town lot, and do not, under any circumstances, buy 
more than you have hens to hover. Artificial brood- 
ers should be purchased only when you know you are 
going to make a success of your venture, and the 
fireless brooders, which can be made from soap and 
starch boxes, are not very satisfactory in the hands 
of a novice. 

In planning to order chicks, you must consider 
not only how many chicks you can provide comfort- 
able quarters for, but how many grown fowls you 
can house without overcrowding them. Leghorns 
require less room after they are grown than hens of 
the heavy breeds. If you have a house and yard of 
suitable size for fifty Leghorn hens, it should not 
be expected to house more than forty Rocks. Poul- 
trymen usually consider it necessary to hatch three 
chicks for every pullet they wish to have at maturity. 
You will therefore need to order 150 Leghorn or 120 
Rock or Red chicks if you wish to fill a house of this 
size. 

Unless you have had some experience with incu- 
bator chicks it will be safer not to order more than 
fifty the first time. If you succeed with these, you 
can buy more later. If you do not raise a good per- 
centage of them, you will be glad you have no more. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 13 

If there is one rule that is of vital importance to the 
beginner, it is "Go slow/' Better raise twenty-five 
chicks to a fine, sturdy maturity than have a hundred 
runts to get rid of. It is quality that counts, not 
quantity. 

To care for the fifty chicks you have ordered you 
should have three hens. In warm weather a hen 
can care for twenty-five chicks, though she is quite 
likely to trample on some of them; but in March, 
when you should be raising these chicks, from fifteen 
to twenty are all a good-sized hen can cover. 

There are two ways of providing mothers for a 
brood of incubator chicks. If you have a sufficient 
number of hens of your own, the best plan is to set 
as many as four three weeks before you expect your 
chicks. Four hens will not hatch more than thirty 
chicks, unless you are remarkably fortunate, and the 
four can easily care for the fifty you buy and the 
thirty they hatch. If you raise thirty vigorous 
pullets from this lot, you may not need to order 
more. If you have not hen mothers, but must buy 
broodies, get them at least a week before your chicks 
are to arrive and keep them quiet upon china eggs 
till your chicks are ready. If two or three chicks 
are slipped under a hen at night, she will think she 
has hatched them and take the rest of the brood 
without objection. 

The cockerels should be separated from the pullets 
as soon as they show their sex and fattened for broil- 
ers. Get them off to market as soon as they weigh 
two pounds. The earlier your broilers go to market, 
the better price will they bring. This is especially 
true of Leghorns, which make excellent broilers but 
are poor fryers. 

2. — Buying Breeding Stock. — For the back- 
lotter who can keep only a few fowls, and the 



14 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

side-line ponltry keqier who has a :as:e for good 

birds, there is much to be said ir. :a :r :: buying 
breedir.g' stoclc to "begin Tvith, Y:-.: g'zi :e"'rr bird? 
for y:::r r:.:':.-y. bu: you get Cr::cr :::rs — :::a: is. if 
you pay a fair trice fir :bem. For S25 y:u can ouy 
a trio of tborougbiy g-iii: "i ir ds. and tihe chicks you 
hatcia :he iirs: year frin: cbese "'iil give you a good 
start toward a f i c i-i i : c ii 1 1 : e .1 1 1- d s , S cm etimes it is 
a good plan to raise yc ur :: uiirts and then buy a 
pure-bred male of g-: :d st: lic ::■ mate to the best six 
or eight :z thent. 

3.— Buying Haichixg Eg^s.— Many tersons 
consider hatcning eggs the very cest '"ay tc get a 
start vrith hrst-ciass stick, but tnere are more 
chances tt ce tah^n than in buying either chicks or 
breeding stiih, If yC'U are fortunate in v:ur hatch- 

tnan m cuymg sticn, cut e^-^'s tnat na'-"r tra'.^e.eu a 
long distance d: nit aivays hatch satisfactcriiy. and 
even when iniertiie eggs are repiaced. hatching one 
or two vh'h cheater eggs is triubiesmte, and titere 
is always a c':\-c.t.Cc that tne cir ds natcned "■:.. be 
just ordinan- stock. '^Tten the eggs are purchased 
from near-by breeders there is a iirtter chance of 
success. 

LOCATING THE POLtLTEY F.\PwM 

"Most of us i^.avf tC' raise ^.i luitr'' ':"}■. -^ re '.•■■•£■ f.nd it 
ccn"enient tt .I'-'e. a no p lu.try is st acattac-e tnat it 
whi thrivr "'her ever huntan beings can iive. There 
are. however, tinree essentiais in the location of a 
profitable poultry farm. 

Three Essentials 

1. — Watfe. — In California, especially, a good sup- 
ply of water for irrigation is of prime importance. 
Other things may be ntanaged without, but water is 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 15 

the sine qim non of poultry raising. Without water 
the poultryman cannot raise the green feed which 
his fowls must have if they are to be profitable, nor 
can he raise the fruit and vegetables which should go 
along with the raising of poultry or the part of his 
feed which it is desirable a poultryman should raise. 
In short, he is handicapped at every turn. Some 
localities, otherwise perfect for poultry growing, 
are entirely barred because of the scarcity or high 
cost of water. 

2. — Fertile Soil. — It has been the custom to 
recommend a light, sandy soil as best for poultry 
because of its capacity for carrying off droppings 
and disease germs, but with the new **back to the 
land" movement in poultry culture, i. e., the move- 
ment away from too intensive culture and toward 
combination of fruit and poultry, there has come a 
new emphasis on the importance of good soil. The 
day is nearly passed, I hope, when we shall see cer- 
tain kinds of soil advertised as "good for chickens, 
but not for fruit." Land that is not good enough for 
fruit is not good enough for chickens, and the best 
fruit land is none too good. There is nothing better 
than a decomposed granite soil if it has water, but 
even adobe, bad as it is for chickens, may be made 
tolerable if cultivated sufficiently. 

3. — Transportation Facilities. — The best loca- 
tion for a poultry farm is within easy reach of a 
large city. The next best is close to a railroad within 
a hundred miles of that city. Indeed it is a question 
whether a good-sized tract of land at a distance, but 
with transportation, is not better than a small tract 
close to market. The important thing is that the 
producer be convenient to the railroad. If he must 
haul his products six or seven miles over a rough 
road, it is good-by to any possible profits. 



16 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

Other Considerations 

Three other considerations in regard to location 
should be aimed for if possible, but done without if 
necessary. These are: 

1. — Proximity to Other Poultrymen. — Asso- 
ciation with others in the same business is always a 
help, and in none more than in work with poultry. 
Such poultry colonies as those at Gardena, San Ga- 
briel and Arlington, not to mention Petaluma and a 
hundred towns in Northern California, are of great 
advantage to the men who compose them. Supplies 
are bought at wholesale prices, when otherwise they 
would be purchased at retail, and in many associa- 
tions products are collected and marketed for the 
producers. On the other hand, the small producer, if 
he has the land, may be able to build up a profitable 
retail business in a suburban town where there are 
not many other producers — ^if there is such a town in 
California. 

2. — Drainage. — Some drainage for poultry runs 
is vital, for water standing on the ground where 
fowls are kept is always a source of disease, but it is 
usually possible on several acres of land to find one 
point which is sufficiently higher than the rest to 
insure good drainage. 

3. — A Southerly Exposure. — This is not neces- 
sary, but it is a very great help in maintaining health 
among the fowls. A gentle southerly slope is prob- 
ably the best of all locations for a poultry farm or 
plant, for on such a slope there can never be lack of 
sunshine, that best of germicides. Given open-front 
houses, fronting south and downhill, there should be 
no excuse whatever for disease of any sort. 

4. — Protection From Wind. — An exposed hill- 
top is never a good place for chickens, but a judicious 
arrangement of windbreaks can be made to obviate 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 17 

this difficulty. Better a too exposed situation than a 
hollow where the air does not circulate at all or blows 
through in a constant draft. Such a place is always 
unhealthf ul and should be avoided. 

How Much Land? 

The amount of land necessary for a poultry farm 
depends on the breed kept, the character of the soil 
and the ability of the caretaker to keep yards and 
houses clean and sanitary. In general a thousand 
hens to five acres is a safe number, but many persons 
succeed with less land. 

I know one chicken rancher who is making a good 
living with 2000 hens on eight acres, another who is 
very successful with 1500 hens on three and a half 
acres, and still another who does a nice side-line 
business with from 300 to 400 hens on a half acre. 
These men, however, are experts, and the first two 
keep White Leghorns, which thrive in closer confine- 
ment than heavier fowls can bear, and can often be 
raised intensively where Rocks or Orpingtons would 
be a failure. 

It is very important that the poultryman raise his 
own green feed, and as much as possible beside, and 
the initial cost of the land is a small matter in com- 
parison with the advantages that result from having 
room for stock and garden. 

How Much Capital? 

The question is often asked, "How much capital is 
needed for starting a poultry farm ?" This depends 
largely upon the price of the land. In the most 
highly cultivated parts of the state land suitable for 
fruit and poultry can hardly be found for less than 
$300 an acre. Close to markets and in localities 
where irrigating water can be bought from plants 



18 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

already developed, it ^vill cost more than this. If the 
land is bare, houses and fences must be built. Stock 
is to be bought and feed for the first year provided. 
These are expenses which the prospective poultry 
farmer must look squarely in the face, and it is better 
to overestimate than to underestimate. The figures 
would be something like this : 

5 acres of bare land ?1500 

Housing and fencing for 1000 hens, at 

about $1 per hen 1000 

Dwelling house (at the very least) 500 

2000 Leghorn chicks 200 



$3200 
It is not necessarj" to pay cash for the land, but a 
hea\y indebtedness is a most serious handicap, and 
a pajTnent of at least one-third cash should be made. 
It is generally considered that the sale of the 
cockerels as broilers will pay for the raising of both 
cockerels and pullets, so we ^^'ill assume that the 
pullets at six months of age have cost nothing but 
the $200 that was paid for the chicks. 

The beginner in the poultrj' business must expect 
to lose money the first year and to spend two years 
in bringing his plant to a paying basis. To be sure 
the hens will pay their own waj^ if they are bred-to- 
lay hens, but there are many other expenses, and the 
man who has not the money for necessary equip- 
ment and supplies has a difficult task before him. 
Probably more failures in poultn^ work are due to 
beginning with insufficient capital than to any other 
one thing. 

CHOOSING A BREED 

There is no best breed. This has been said so often 
that it is axiomatic. Nevertheless, there are best 
breeds for given purposes, and breeds which seem to 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 19 

be more popular or more profitable in certain locali- 
ties. The beginner, if he is wise, will find out by- 
making careful inquiries, visiting poultry ranches 
and shows and reading the local poultry journals, 
what breeds are generally kept in his neighborhood 
and which are most highly valued. The experienced 
poultryman may find it to his advantage to launch 
a new breed, but never the beginner. The beaten 
path is always safer. 

Breed Classification 

Without entering into a detailed classification of 
the various breeds, we may roughly classify them as 
egg breeds, meat breeds and general purpose breeds, 
but the term ''egg breed" is a misnomer, for some 
general purpose fowls lay quite as many eggs as the 
so-called *'egg breeds." 

Another classification, which covers all kinds of 
fowls a little better than the above, considers them 
as well-defined types; and we have (1) the game 
types, represented by the different varieties of 
Games; (2) the laying types, represented mainly by 
the Mediterranean class — Leghorns, Minorcas, An- 
conas, etc.; (3) the meat types, represented by the 
Asiatics — Brahmas, Cochins and Langshans; (4) 
the general purpose types, to which belong our hon- 
ored and beloved American fowls — Rocks, Reds 
and Dottes, and the English Orpingtons; (5) de- 
formed types — Frizzles, Silkies and Rumpless, and 
(6) bantams. 

White Leghorns for Egg-Farms 

Time has proved that the White Leghorn is better 
adapted than any other breed for the exclusive pro- 
duction of eggs, and it holds the field as the universal 
egg-farm fowl. From time to time some enthusias- 



20 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

tic breeder comes forward with a new breed which is 
*'just as good," but the White Leghorn still holds 
undisputed sway. Should it ever have a rival, it 
would probably be the Ancona, but the great Ameri- 
can public likes a white bird, and the Leghorn will 
be hard to displace. 

American Breeds for the Farm 

If it is true that the White Leghorn is the best 
fowl for commercial egg-farms, it is equally true 
that it is not the best breed for the general farm or 
the back lot. In the first place, Leghorns and other 
high-flying Mediterranean fowls will go over fences ; 
clipping wings won't stop them. They must be 
closely confined above as well as below, or out they 
go. In the second place, while the Leghorn cockerels 
make splendid broilers for the fancy trade and bring 
good prices, they are not satisfactory for a family 
that likes real chicken meat, and the farmer and 
back-lotter want chicken for their own Sunday din- 
ner. In the third place, the Leghorn hen, when she 
is through laying, has hardly fifty cents* worth of 
meat on her bones, while a Rock or Orpington will 
always bring a dollar. 

One is always safe in choosing for the farm flock 
or the hen yard of the city or suburban home one of 
the three American breeds — ^the Plymouth Rock, 
Wyandotte or Rhode Island Red. Rocks and Dottes 
come in all desired colors. The Red is always red, 
but there is a variety of shades, all beautiful. The 
Barred Rock is said to be the most popular fowl the 
country over. In the East Wyandottes are perhaps 
a little more highly esteemed. In the West the Rhode 
Island Red seems to be more popular. There can be 
no mistake in choosing one of these three, and there 
is no essential difference between them. Whatever 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 21 

difference there is, is a matter of strain and not of 
breed. 

Robinson (Principles and Practice of Poultry Cul- 
ture) classifies Orpingtons, Buckeyes and Javas with 
Wyandottes, Plymouth Rocks and Rhode Island Reds 
as general purpose fowls, and declares that "In what 
are called the practical qualities — egg production and 
meat properties — and in their adaptation to climatic 
and soil conditions and environment, they are sub- 
stantially the same. The lighter breeds are usually 
more active and mature earlier, are less prone to put 
on fat, and have a longer productive life than the 
heavier, though the latter, while in suitable condi- 
tion, are equally good layers. For table use the 
Rhode Island Reds are commonly rated rather in- 
ferior to Plymouth Rocks and Wyandottes, but this 
is wholly a matter of selection for meat quality. 
Some stocks of Reds are as good table poultry as any 
of the other breeds of the class. As first introduced 
the Orpingtons were probably of higher average 
table quality than the American breeds because of 
more careful selection along that line in England; 
as found now, they average with the others." 

The Orpingtons cannot be excelled as broilers and 
soft roasters, but their weight inclines them to 
broodiness in summer, which is a great detriment to 
egg production, but which can be bred out by careful 
selection. They are also very hardy. Both Wyan- 
dottes and Rhode Island Reds make fine, quick- 
growing broilers. The Light Brahma is best for 
large roasters, and the Plymouth Rock is possibly 
the best all-round table fowl. Certainly it is in great 
demand. 

Only three of the many other varieties are worth 
the beginner's serious attention. These are the 
Houdan, the Minorca and the Ancona. The Houdan 



22 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

belongs to the French class, is a non-sitter, a prolific 
layer and has a meaty carcass which is the delight of 
French epicures. If egg-laying and table qualities 
are ever combined in one fowl, it is probably in the 
Houdan ; but for some reason it has not been largely 
bred in this country. The Minorca belongs to the 
Mediterranean class, but is larger than the Leghorn 
and therefore a better table fowl and lays larger 
eggs. The Ancona is a Mediterranean, like the Leg- 
horn, and its friends claim for it all the fine qualities 
of the Leghorn. 

Color of Eggs 

All hens of the Mediterranean breeds are non- 
sitters and lay white eggs. All the heavy breeds are 
sitters and lay brown eggs. These two considera- 
tions must necessarily influence choice of a breed. 
The San Francisco and New York markets pay a 
little higher price for white eggs. Boston prefers a 
brown e^^, and Los Angeles has no choice, provided 
only the eg^ is fresh. The person who wishes to 
cater to a white egg market will therefore be obliged 
to select one of the Mediterranean breeds, but the 
Southern Californian may select the breed he likes, 
regardless of color. 

Only One Breed 

Whatever breed you select, get the best stock ob- 
tainable and keep that one breed and nothing else. 
There is enough to learn about any one breed to keep 
the average person busy for a lifetime. To try more 
is to court failure. 

WHICH SPECIALTY.? 

In an age of specialists like the present, the man 
or woman who undertakes to raise poultry should 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 23 

have clearly in mind at the start what he or she is 
to aim at. 

The different branches of the poultry industry are 
generally classified as (1) egg production, (2) meat 
production, (3) the breeding of fancy stock, (4) 
hatching baby chicks. But raising fowls exclusively 
for meat production has proven a failure so many 
times that it need not be considered as a separate 
branch of the industry. Meat production is profit- 
able as a side line subordinate to the production of 
eggs, and has importance for the beginner only as it 
relates to the disposition of surplus cockerels and old 
hens. Any breed is more desirable if its cockerels 
make satisfactory broilers, but the broiler business 
as a business has rarely been anything but a failure. 

Breeding fancy stock and the artificial hatching of 
chicks in large numbers, while they are both profit- 
able branches of the industry, are what might be 
called graduate courses, and to be entered into only 
when the principles of breeding, mating, feeding and 
incubation have been mastered. This narrows the 
possible choice for the beginner to egg production 
only, and egg production is the foundation on which 
the industry rests. 

There always has been and there always will be a 
demand for fresh, wholesome eggs, and this demand 
is increasing as the virtues of the egg as an article 
of diet become better known. High prices of feed 
the past few years have made it increasingly difficult 
to produce eggs at a profit, but this very difficulty is 
forcing breeders and students alike to a study of the 
principles of breeding which shall eliminate the 
drones from our flocks. There is plenty of profit in 
producing eggs with high-producing hens, and no 
profit at all in keeping drones. The sooner this 
becomes clear to all concerned, the better for the 



24 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

industry. Too many flocks in times past have been 
managed on the principle that "chickens is chickens/' 
a most mistaken idea. Chickens, like cows, are pro- 
ducers or they are nothing. 

In planning for the production of eggs, the merits 
and demerits of the different classes of fowls must be 
carefully weighed. The Mediterraneans will produce 
more eggs, but the heavy breeds produce more meat. 
It is also possible by careful selection to increase the 
production of the heavy breeds until they are almost 
equal to the lighter. Some of the best layers in 
recent egg-laying contests have been Rocks, Wyan- 
dottes, Orpingtons, Rhode Island Reds and Lang- 
shans. On the other hand, the frequent broodiness 
of the heavy breeds is a trial, but this can be bred 
out to a large extent. If there is any difference at 
all in quality of eggs, it is in favor of the heavier 
breeds, which usually lay an egg with a more solid 
shell and a firmer and better colored yolk. 

I believe we shall see in the next few years, as 
prices of beef rise higher and higher, an increasing 
recognition of the economic importance of the 
heavier breeds. 




FIG. 1 SCRATCHIXG-SHED HOUSE OX BAXDINI POULTRY RAXCH^ RIVERSIDE 




FIG. 2 SHED-ROOF COLOXY HOUSES OX MOXROVIA POULTRY RANCH 



CHAPTER II. 

Housing and Yarding 

SYSTEMS OF POULTRY KEEPING 

The two systems of poultry keeping in general 
use are known as extensive and intensive, but there 
are so many degrees of intensiveness and so many 
gradations of areas over which fowls are permitted 
to run, that it is hard to know where one ends and 
the other begins. 

The Extensive System 

The extensive system in general may be defined 
as a system by which fowls are kept on free range 
without yards. Such a system was in use for many 
years at Little Compton, R. I., where a community 
of farmers built up by the simplest methods a very 
successful poultry business. The houses were scat- 
tered over the farms, allowing each flock room to 
forage for its own green feed. Feed was hauled to 
the houses by wagons or sleds once or twice a day, 
and the method of feeding was of the simplest. A 
system like this is the easiest and safest of all, but 
it requires a great deal of land. 

The Intensive System 

Fowls kept on the intensive system are yarded 
more or less closely, some in yards which have 
hardly space for the fowls to move about, some in 
yards where there is considerable room for exer- 
cise, others in yards where a good deal of green feed 
can be grown. The health of the fowls depends not 



26 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



so much on the size of yard as on the provisions 
which are made for sanitation and exercise. Leg- 
horns kept for egg production are often kept in very 



/rr use 



I 



n/S= 



/n cul-f-ivCL-^ion. 



Hoi/i* 



V 



I 



FIG. 3 DOUBLE BUNS AT FRONT OF HOUSE 

close confinement, apparently without injury to their 
health, but where breeders are closely confined fer- 
tility is likely to suffer sooner or later. Figure 1 




//7 co/ft\reif ion 



A^ 



/i7 use 

A/ 



FIG. 4 DOUBLE RUNS^ AT FEOXT AND REAR 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



27 



shows a Southern California house where over 400 
Leghorns are kept with but scant yards. 

The Two-yard System 

Many poultrymen strike an average between the 
intensive and extensive systems by keeping their 
hens in houses holding from fifty to one hundred 
each, and having two runs for each house. The 
fowls are kept in one yard while a green crop is 
grown in the other. Some such system is absolutely 



C(/Hii/-a.fe -^h^se /a^pe yatd^' while 
pOul'^ry /s confined to $M^l} yAtdS- 

L 



-«<^ 



y 



f- 



L 



y 



f 



Y 



y 




FIG. 5 TRIPLE YARD SYSTEM 



necessary if fowls are to be kept for a series of 
years on the same ground, and it has the additional 
advantage of providing a good deal of green feed. 

These double runs may both be in front of the 
house, as in Figure 3, or one may be at the rear, 
the south yard being used in winter and the north 
in summer. (Figure 4.) Where a house has sev- 
eral sections the plan shown in Figure 5 may be 
used, the fowls being confined to the small yards 



28 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

while green food is grown in the large yards. After 
the green food is up so that the birds cannot easily 
kill it by eating at it, the flocks from the two houses 
can be turned on it alternately. 

The Fruit and Poultry Farm 

Safest of all systems of poultry keeping in Cali- 
fornia is the combination fruit and poultry ranch, 
for the following reasons: 

1. Water is so scarce and so high priced in most 
localities that it must be made to go as far as 
possible. Where green crops must be raised for 
chickens, little if any additional water is required 
for deciduous trees. 

2. Manure is a valuable by-product of poultry 
raising which ought not to be wasted, and it cannot 
be more profitably used than in growing fruit. 

3. The trees furnish shade for poultry, and the 
fowls in turn destroy insects and provide fertilizer 
and cultivation. 

4. Instead of having his eggs "all in one basket" 
the man with a combination ranch has them in two 
or three. 

5. The droppings and other litter from the 
houses keep up the supply of humus in the soil. 
California fruit men must keep more stock of some 
sort, and chickens are more available than cattle. 

On such a farm the work is most easily done if 
the farm is divided into several fields, and the 
chickens housed in portable houses which can be 
moved from field to field as occasion requires. 

REQUIREMENTS OF A POULTRY HOUSE 

The natural habitat of fowls is the open air. The 
jungle fowl roosted in a tree and foraged for its 
living where it could get it. Obviously, these con- 




FIG. 6 COLOXr HOUSES ox RAXCH AT ARLINGTON 




FIG. < COLONY HOrSE WITH SEPARATE SCRATCHING-SHED. IN USE AT 

OREGON STATION 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 29 

ditions cannot be met when fowls are kept arti- 
ficially, but the more nearly they can be approxi- 
mated, the better for the health and vigor of the 
fowls. The requirements of a sanitary, healthful 
poultry house are: 

1 — Sunshine. — Any house that does not admit 
the sun is unsanitary, no matter how well planned 
otherwise. Making the house front south and hav- 
ing its windows high, if it must have windows, and 
its front so that it can be open except in stormy 
weather, will meet the sunshine requirement. An 
east front is nearly as good as a south front and 
better in this respect, that it provides afternoon 
shade. 

2. — Fresh Air. — Roup, catarrh, bronchitis and a 
dozen other ailments follow in the train of bad venti- 
lation. The open front is good as far as it goes, 
but a house open in front and closed on the other 
three sides is close in warm or foggy weather, and 
there should be windows or ventilators at the rear 
which can be opened or closed as the weather de- 
mands. 

3. — Protection. — Protection must be provided 
from (1) wind, (2) rain, (3) too much sunshine, 
(4) rats, weasels and other vermin. 

In order to secure protection from the wind, the 
house must face away from the direction from 
which come the worst winds. This, in California, 
is north, so it is very desirable for this as well as 
for other reasons that the house front south or 
southeast. 

But our rains come from the south and east, so 
a house which avoids the wind gets the rain. In 
Southern California, where the winter rainfall is 
small, a very satisfactory house is the portable col- 
ony house which can be turned to face in any direc- 



30 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

tion. If the scratching shed is built separately, as 
in the illustration of the houses used at the Oregon 
Station, the house need not contain more than two 
square feet per fowl. A house 6x8 feet would thus 
suffice for from twenty to twenty-five birds, and a 
house 8 X 10 feet would hold thirty-five or forty, 
which is all the beginner should put in one house. 
In this case the scratching pen with its sloping roof 
could front north and would give shelter from both 
sun and rain. 

The shed-roofed house fronting south receives too 
much sun in the winter time for California, where 
the February hot spell is as much to be expected as 
the January cold spell. If there is a covered scratch- 
ing pen like the one mentioned above, this will not 
matter. If the hens have no shade except what the 
house supplies, there will need to be curtains or 
shutters or a door, hinged at the top, which can 
be raised to make a little porch in front of the house. 
This is one of the most satisfactory ways of deal- 
ing with both sun and rain in a small house. Where 
a gable-roofed house is used, as at the Oregon Sta- 
tion (Fig. 7), there is no such problem. A gable- 
roofed house, with the front slope of the roof shorter 
answers the same purpose as the shed-roof house 
with raised door. 

The best protection against both rats and damp- 
ness is a cement floor and foundation. This is not 
practicable when the movable colony houses are 
used, nor is it needed. To make a good foundation 
for a permanent house, excavate about three inches 
and fill with a mixture of one part Portland cement, 
three parts clean, sharp sand and three parts crushed 
rock. On the surface of this foundation put a mix- 
ture of pure cement and water to fill up the holes 
in the surface. A concrete floor is hardly more ex- 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 31 

pensive than a board floor, and it is so much more 
sanitary than a dirt floor that it is well worth while. 
4. — Room for Exercise. — In bad weather this is 
best secured by the combination scratching shed and 
roosting house, in which part of the house is open 
scratching shed and part enclosed roosting quarters, 
as in Figure 1, or by a model which is quite gen- 
erally used at state experiment stations and also in 
the government work. In this house the roosts, 
with droppings board underneath, occupy half the 
house, facing the front, and the nests are built under 
the roosting platform, opening either in front or 
outside behind the roosts, and the whole floor is 
covered with scratching litter. In a very rainy cli- 
mate some such arrangement would be almost a 
necessity, but for California the roofed scratching 
pen is ample protection. (Fig. 10). 

5. — Simplicity of Construction. — The simpler 
the construction of the poultry house, the better. 
Both economy and cleanliness make this desirable. 
An open front, with some means of letting a current 
of air through; roosts which are protected from 
drafts; and some place, inside or out, where the 
fowls can scratch in all weathers; these are the re- 
quirements of a poultry house for the comfort of 
the fowls. Add to these movable roosts and drop- 
pings boards, so that each may be taken out and 
washed with disinfectant, and you have all that is 
necessary. Four square feet per fowl must be al- 
lowed when the scratching pen is inside, but only 
two square feet if the scratching pen is outside and 
the birds need the house only for sleeping. A square 
house is cheaper than any other shape, and a shed 
roof cheaper than a gable. 

Every house that the attendant is expected to 
enter should be made sufficiently high for him to 



32 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



stand in it comfortably. Seven feet in front and 
five feet at the rear is a good height for a house 
with a shed roof. A house with a gable would need 
to be a little higher. A house which contains only 
roosts need not be more than five feet in front. 

It must always be remembered in planning a poul- 
try house that Rocks, Orpingtons and other fowls 
of the heavy breeds require more room than Leg- 
horns and other Mediterraneans. A house that will 
house fifty Orpingtons will hold about sixty-five 




FIG. 8 CANVAS COVBEED SCRATCHING SHED 

Leghorns. So, if we allow four square feet for the 
larger fowl, three or three and one-half feet will 
accommodate a Leghorn. 

THE COLONY HOUSE 

Without doubt the colony house holding a dozen 
to forty hens is the most popular and the most gen- 
erally useful poultry house. Where a very large 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



33 



number of fowls is kept intensively, the long house 
may be more economical, but for the farm where a 
hundred or less are kept, for the fancy breeder who 
is obliged to keep his hens in small flocks, and for 
the back lotter who can keep but a few at the best, 
the colony house is best. Especially is it well adapted 




FIG. 9 FRAMEWORK FOR GOOD PORTABLE COLONY HOUSE 



to our California conditions, where fowls need a 
maximum of fresh air and a minimum of protec- 
tion from the weather, and where scarcity of water 
and high prices of land make it desirable in many 
localities that both land and water and the fertilizer 
which is a by-product of poultry raising be used to 
the utmost. 

On the farm there is nothing better than colony 
houses holding twenty-five fowls apiece, scattered 
through field and orchard, so far apart that each 
flock will have room to forage without eating up the 
green crops which may be growing. These houses 
would be about 8 x 10 feet, and being portable, they 



34 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

can have no scratching sheds, and must have room 
to shelter the hens when they need shelter. A house 
8 X 10 feet should give comfortable room for twenty 
heavy or twenty-five light hens. They can be moved 
from place to place as circumstances require, can 
be used with a heater for brooding young stock, 
and afterward with heater removed for the grow- 
ing pullets. The colony house is, in fact, the uni- 
versal house. Four such houses would house a flock 
of 100 Leghorns, or eighty to eighty-five Rocks and 
would cost not to exceed $1.00 per hen. It is im- 
possible to approximate the cost more nearly than 
this, for cost of materials differs and the houses are 
considerably cheaper when built by the owner than 
when labor is hired. The shed roof style with open 
side, or the gable roof style with open end, are 
equally suitable, but the shed roof is cheaper. If 
the house is built on runners it can be easily hauled 
from place to place. 

Whatever plan is used, the house must be built 
in such a way that there will be no cracks to let 
drafts in. Matched lumber is best for the purpose, 
but even with matched lumber it is difficult to make 
the sides sufficiently tight. Probably the best way 
to eliminate drafts is to line with some sort of build- 
ing paper. Rough boards battened are sometimes 
used, but one cannot be sure of tight seams. 

In large houses it is a good plan to use matched 
ceiling back of the roosting platform and above 
it, but this makes a portable house too heavy, and 
building paper is, after all, quite as good for this 
climate. 

Colony houses with a run for each house are quite 
generally used, both at experiment stations and on 
small poultry plants. East and West, and I think they 
are growing in favor, but they are not quite as 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 35 

economical of labor as the long house which has long 
been characteristic of the intensive plant. It takes 
longer to go from yard to yard on the colony sys- 
tem than from pen to pen of a long house, but this 
objection can be obviated by placing the houses 
along an alley, with the front of each to the alley. 

THE LONG HOUSE 

More birds can be kept at less expense for 
labor and housing in a long house than in any other 
way. When several hundred birds are kept in one 
long house, it is generally thought wise not to put 
more than fifty together in one apartment, though 
some poultrymen find that they can keep 100 to 
advantage. Where 100 birds are kept in one fiock 
instead of in two, each bird has twice as much floor 
space to move about in as if the pens were half as 
large. Fifty birds, for instance, would require 200 
square feet of house room if kept by themselves, and 
each bird would have but the 200 feet to move about 
in. Put the 100 birds in 400 square feet of floor 
space, and each bird has 400 feet. 

A good plan for a long house is twenty feet wide 
and 100 feet long, eight feet high in front and five 
feet high in the rear, and is divided by sixteen-foot 
partitions into five sections. The partitions do not 
entirely separate the sections, an alley four feet 
wide being left the whole length of the front of the 
building, so that every fowl may roam over the whole 
2000 feet. Each section contains roosting and 
scratching room for 100 Rocks or 120 Leghorns, so 
the entire house will house 500 Rocks or 600 Leg- 
horns. This house is recommended by Director 
Quisenberry of the Missouri Experiment Station, 
and is similar to many in use in this state. 

A laying house designed for 1000 hens is twenty 



36 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



feet wide and 240 feet long, with gable roof of un- 
equal span, being nine feet high at the ridge pole, 
seven feet in front, and five feet at the rear. The 
pens are twenty feet square and hold about eighty 
hens each. 

It is generally considered that hens will lay more 
eggs when they are kept in flocks of not over fifty. 
On the other hand they can be more economically 
cared for in flocks of 100 hens, and experts are still 
trying to find the happy mean where economy in 
care coincides with the maximum health and vigor 
of the flock. 

In a long house intended for breeders, the sections 
will be much smaller if breeding pens are to be 
kept separately. If the breeders are to be kept in 
large flocks with several males to each, the house 
need not differ from the laying house. 

THE FARM-FLOCK HOUSE 

Sometimes the farmer does not find it convenient 




PIG. 13- 



-FLOOR PLAN FOE FARMERS DOUBLE HOUSE. IT IS 14x28 AND 
ACCOMMODATES 125 LEGHORNS OR 100 HEAVY HENS. 



to scatter his fowls over the place in colony houses, 
but prefers keeping them in one large flock. For 
this purpose a house fourteen feet square is recom- 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



37 



mended by Director Quisenberry. It will hold from 
fifty to sixty hens. If more than this number are 
to be kept, it should be built 14 x 28 feet, and divided 
into two sections of 14 x 14 feet each. Such a house 
with two yards, each containing an acre of land, 
which can be cultivated in turn, will be found a most 
satisfactory home for the farm flock of 100 hens 
or for the suburban place of several acres where 
two acres can be devoted to poultry. If the two 
acres of land is planted to fruit trees it will yield 
an additional income. 

A MODEL CALIFORNIA HOUSE 

Housing in California is not essentially different 
from housing in the East. In two particulars, how- 
ever, slight allowance must be made for California 



8' 



--/6^----t1 



-n. 



IXQXLLLllIIJ'v^" 



J^// 



GrAi,n^ 



Wafer 



LU 



-m 



FIG. IG HOUSING AND YARDING 



climate. The open front house is in quite general 
use East and West, but in the East provision must 
be made for shutting out the winter storms. This 
is not necessary in most portions of California, but 
on the other hand our sunny climate necessitates 
more generous provision for shade. 

A long house which is admirably adapted to Cali- 
fornia climate was built by the late S. C. Gregg on 
what is now the ranch of Sinclair Brothers at Ar- 



38 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

lington, Riverside County. Mr. Gregg had hunted 
far and wide for the design best suited to this cli- 
mate and finally worked out the model, two views 
of which are shown in Figures 14 and 15. 

In Figure 14 is a view of nearly the whole length 
of the house from a distance. It consists of a series 
of roosting houses sixteen feet long and about eight 
feet deep, with scratching sheds between, two roost- 
ing houses being alternated with two scratching 
sheds. The ground plan of two houses and two 
scratching sheds is shown in Figure 16. Feed 
boxes and water troughs are built along the front 
of each scratching shed, and the trapnests are in 
front of the roosting houses. 

Each house holds fifty hens. All floors are of 
cement, and the roosts are unusually low — about 
eighteen inches from the floor — so that there may 
be no bruised feet from jumping down upon the 
hard floor. 

Figure 15 shows the rear view of another long 
laying house on this ranch. 

In both these houses the wide eaves, which meas- 
ure about six feet on the slope, afford all necessary 
protection from rain. The houses front east. 

A NOVEL BREEDING HOUSE 

A house designed for breeders is shown in Fig- 
ure 17. It is built with gable roof and divided in 
the middle by an alley. The pens, of which there 
are four on each side of the alley, are about 7 x 10 
feet, and hold twelve to fifteen birds. Fountains and 
feed boxes are next the alley, and the roosting plat- 
forms are along the outside of the building. The 
end of one of them may be seen in the nearest pen 
in the picture, just inside the hinged door. The 
characteristic feature of this house is the doors, 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 39 

hinged at the bottom, which may be seen open in 
the picture, each just outside its roosting platform. 
In windy or rainy weather these doors are closed, 
thus affording ample protection. In warm weather 
they are down, as in the picture, providing abundant 
ventilation. 

THE TARRED-PAPER HOUSE 

A very cheap portable coop or house consists of 
a frame of light material — 1 x 2 inches answers very 
well — covered with tarred building paper. When 
tarred paper is used for the roof, the top should be 
covered quite closely with boards, for this paper 
tears easily, and boards a foot apart on the sides 
give a much better foundation for the paper than 
the frame alone. 

A very cheap coop may be made of the above 
frame, with roof of shakes or paper, and the sides 
and back covered with burlap sacks. 

Fig. 18 shows a portable coop of novel design 
which was seen in a back yard in Riverside. 



CHAPTER III. 

Incubation 

WHEN TO HATCH 

There is a time for all things, it has been wisely- 
said, and this is particularly true of hatching 
chickens. You can set a hen in California any 
month of the year, but it is not always wise to do it. 

It is generally considered that the hatching sea- 
son begins in January and ends in May or June, 
but many poultrymen hatch broilers in the fall, and 
many hatcheries run from November till July. 
Theoretically there is little reason for not hatching 
in June and July, for our summer is nearly always 
late. Practically it is likely to be time wasted, for 
these late hatched chicks do not grow as fast as the 
earlier ones, the cockerels, when marketed bring 
considerably less, and the pullets will not lay until 
January when the price of eggs is on the decline. 
The labor of caring for summer chicks is also 
greater, or seems so, and green feed is less abundant 
than in winter and spring. 

In general the main thing to consider in hatching 
is that the stock be hatched in order to reach laying 
maturity at the right time. Pullets for winter 
layers must be hatched early enough to reach lay- 
ing maturity by the first of November, and yet not 
so early that they will molt in the fall. Leghorns 
can usually be counted on to lay at six months of 
age; so April is the best month for hatching Leg- 
horns. Rocks and Orpingtons, on the other hand, 
will not settle down to steady laying under seven 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 41 

or eight months, though there are many individuals 
that begin to lay earlier, so one can hardly afford 
to hatch these breeds later than March if he wants 
fall eggs. If they are hatched as early as the first 
of March, they are likely to molt if fed too heavily, 
so the breeder must guide his bark between the 
evils of late hatching on the one hand and those of 
fall molting on the other. Pullets hatched in the 
last two weeks of March are not very likely to molt 
in the fall, and they should be ready to lay by No- 
vember first if they are well fed. 

January is the time for hatching early broilers 
and fryers. This is more profitably done with the 
heavier breeds than with the Mediterraneans, for 
they reach broiler size sooner. As an Orpington 
of good strain should weigh two pounds at nine or 
ten weeks of age, January and February hatched 
broilers will be ready for market in time to bring 
the cream of the high prices, which is usually from 
35 to 40 cents per pound, live weight. 

September is a good time for hatching either 
broilers or roasters. There is a particularly good 
market for soft roasters about the first of February 
when these September hatched birds should weigh 
from six to eight pounds. 

In planning for fall and winter hatching, the cost 
of eggs should be taken into account. In August 
market eggs are worth 35 or 40 cents a dozen, in Jan- 
uary about the same, and in December a little more. 
In March they will not bring over 25 cents retail. 
Thus the chick that is hatched in January costs, out- 
side of expense of hatching, about twice as much 
as the April chick. On the other hand, January 
chicks in this climate are hardier than April hatched 
chicks. A larger per cent of the chicks hatched 
will live, and they will reach market size earlier. 



42 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

Pullets hatched in the fall are usually found to be 
better layers than those hatched in the spring. 
They also begin to lay at an earlier age. Orpington 
pullets hatched in September or October lay in 
March or April, while pullets hatched in March can 
hardly be expected to lay before October, and many 
will delay beginning till November. On the other 
hand the pullets which mature early lay more small 
eggs than those which delay their laying till the 
eighth month, and as they begin to lay when egg 
prices are at the lowest point they can hardly be 
said to be profitable layers for the first three 
months. 

The great point in favor of the fall hatched layer 
is, that being the daughter of a hen that lays in the 
fall, she may perhaps be expected to lay more fall 
eggs than a spring hatched hen, but the question 
of inheritance of fecundity has not been settled yet. 
If, as the Maine Station recently declared, inheri- 
tance of fecundity comes through the sire and not 
at all through the dam, the fact that the mother laid 
in the fall does not indicate that the daughter will. 
But this is a delicate question and one that is open 
to careful investigation. 

HOW TO HATCH 

Except on questions of sanitation and hygiene, 
it is almost impossible to lay down any hard and 
fast rules for the management of a flock of fowls. 
The breed, constitution, age and individuality of 
the fowls, the location and size of the farm and the 
taste and ability of the poultryman have all to be 
considered as well as such contingent circumstances 
as the state of the weather and the price of feed. 

In no part of the work of a poultryman is this 
more evident than in choice of the method of hatch- 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 43 

ing. In general, it is better for the beginner to 
hatch with hens. The hen understands her busi- 
ness better than an incubator can. Hen-hatched 
chicks are usually stronger and can be raised with 
smaller loss. On the other hand, the average hen 
will break at least one egg and kill at least one 
chick before the brood is safely out of the nest. It 
is rather surprising to learn that, in spite of the 
undoubted superiority of the hen as a hatcher, the 
average proportion of chicks hatched by hens is 55 
per cent, as against about 50 from incubators. 

After considerable experimental work on meth- 
ods of incubation, the Oregon Station, in Bulletin 
100, published the following summary of results : 

1. From 879 eggs set, incubators hatched 533 
chicks, or 60.6 per cent. 

2. From 279 eggs set, hens hatched 219 chicks, 
or 78.8 per cent. 

3. Eliminating eggs broken in nests, the hens 
hatched 88.2 per cent of eggs set. 

4. The incubators hatched 78.5 per cent of "fer- 
tile" eggs, and the hens hatched 96.5 per cent. 

5. Eggs incubated artificially tiested 22.7 per 
cent as unfertile, while those incubated by hens 
tested out 11.8 per cent. 

6. The incubators showed 16.6 per cent of chicks 
"dead in the shell," and the hens 2.8 per cent. 

7. Chicks hatched under hens weighed heavier 
than chicks hatched in incubators. 

8. The mortality of hen-hatched chicks brooded 
in brooders was 10.8 per cent in four weeks and of 
incubator-hatched chicks 33.5 per cent. 

9. The mortality of hen-hatched chicks brooded 
under hens was 2.2 per cent, and of incubator chicks 
49.2 per cent. 

10. In other tests the mortality was 46.5 per 



44 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

eent for incubator chicks brooded by hens and 58.4 
per cent for incubator chicks brooded in brooders. 

11. Hen-hatched chicks made greater gain in 
weight than incubator chicks, whether brooded by 
hens or brooders. 

These experiments were made in the spring and 
summer months. Had they been made in January, 
February and March results would probably have 
been more to the credit of the incubator, for incu- 
bator-chicks do better in these months than later, 
while hen-hatched chicks have the advantage in 
warmer weather. 

Hatching with hens is also cheaper where the 
hens kept are of a sitting breed. Professor Dryden, 
in Bulletin Six of the Oregon Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station estimates the cost of hatching and 
brooding equipment for 100 chicks at $63.60, while 
the cost by the natural method is about $25. 

But all these reasons for using hens as hatchers 
apply only to the breeder who keeps a sitting breed. 
Naturally, the man who keeps Leghorns, Anconas, 
Campines or Buttercups, cannot keep a lot of heavy 
hens just for hatching. He must use an incubator, 
and very often he gets quite as good results as the 
man who uses hens alone. I visited a poultry plant 
recently where White Wyandotte chicks were being 
hatched by hundreds in incubators, while the yard 
was full of broody hens. "I can't bother with hens," 
the owner said, and the man who finds hens a 
"bother" is probably wise to hatch with incubators. 
Some people, too, have a knack at tinkering with 
machines, and they will no doubt get better results 
with incubators than others who hate machinery. 

An incubator is necessary on even a small plant 
or farm, when early broilers and fryers are wanted. 
Hens have a perverse fashion of not wanting to sit 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 45 

in January or February. Even March, if it hap- 
pens to be cold, finds most of them disinclined to the 
duties of maternity. Under such circumstances the 
incubator is the only hope, and it is by no means a 
forlorn one. Especially successful will the hatch- 
ing of these early chicks be if broody hens can be 
found to mother the chicks. It will be noticed in 
the data given by the Oregon Station that incubator- 
hatched chicks do considerably better if they are 
brooded by hens, and while this is not always pos- 
sible, it can often be managed. As soon as a hen 
becomes broody, put her in a nest away from the 
other hens, and treat her just as if she were to be 
given a clutch of eggs. When the incubator hatch 
is nearly due, give her a few eggs to hatch, and she 
will mother as many chicks as you wish to give her. 
The chicks should all be given her while she is still 
on the nest or as soon as she is put in the coop. 
When a hen becomes wonted to her brood she will 
often object to taking more chicks. 

On any farm or plant where chicks are hatched 
to sell an incubator is a necessity. A few breeders 
do advertise hen-hatched chicks, but it is so difficult 
to hatch with hens in large numbers that only few 
attempt it. The manufacture of incubators has 
reached such a high degree of development that 
when the operator comes to his work with a rea- 
sonable skill satisfactory results are to be expected. 
When any great number of chicks are found dead 
in the shell at the close of the hatch it is more than 
likely that inbreeding or weak parent stock, which 
often is the direct result of inbreeding, is more to 
blame than the method of incubation. 

THE HATCHING EGG 
An egg consists of four parts: (1) the germ. 



46 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

(2) the albumen or white which under incubation 
becomes the chick, (3) the yolk, which is intended 
to furnish a supply of food for the newly hatched 
chick, (4) the shell, a double covering. 

The germ, whether it has been fertilized or not, 
may be seen as a tiny round white spot on the yolk 
of the egg. As the egg is about 65 per cent water, 
it is easy to see that water plays an important part 
in the diet of the fowl and also in the incubation 
of the egg. 

Selecting Hatching Eggs 

Not every fertile egg is a good hatching egg. Dis- 
card, in selecting the eggs you are to set, all under- 
sized and all oversized eggs. The undersized eggs, 
if they hatch, will produce undersized chicks, and 
the oversized eggs are very likely to be infertile. 
Discard all eggs with chalky spots in the shell and 
all that are rough or unevenly colored. Select those 
of uniform size and shape and color, for you want 
your flock to produce eggs which will require the 
least possible grading. Select also the firm-shelled 
eggs and those of a size you can market as "extras." 



Care of Hatching Eggs 

Hatching eggs should be gathered several times 
a day in warm weather lest some broody hen start 
incubation ahead of time. They should be kept in 
a temperature of about fifty degrees, and turned 
every day to keep the germ from settling to one 
side. 

Eggs that have been kept more than two weeks 
should not be used for hatching, and one week is 
better. The sooner incubation is begun after the 
egg is laid, the better is the chance of hatching a 
strong, vigorous chick. When eggs have traveled a 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 47 

long distance it is usually considered necessary to 
let them rest for a day before putting them under 
the hen. 

Fertility and Hatchahility 

An egg may be fertile and yet not hatch. A chick 
may hatch and still not live. This is one of the 
problems of poultry culture. Certain things, such 
as the health and vigor of the parent stock, the care 
they receive, their food and exercise, the age and 
size of the male bird, and the number of hens he is 
mated to, are known to affect fertility, but the rela- 
tion between fertility and hatchahility is not so 
easily understood. It is enough for us to know that, 
other things being equal, the more perfect the physi- 
cal condition of the breeding stock the stronger will 
be the germ and the greater the likelihood of a good 
hatch. 

HATCHING WITH HENS 

No better hatcher has yet been devised than the 
stupid hen. To be sure she breaks eggs and tram- 
ples on baby chicks and our patience sometimes be- 
comes pretty threadbare when we struggle with her 
disinclination to settle down on a new nest; never- 
theless, when all is said, she is the best there is. 

Success with sitting hens is largely a question 
of patience, sympathy and imagination on the part 
of the caretaker. He must be able to "put himself 
in her place," for the comfort of the sitting hen is 
of the first importance. Is she too warm? Broken 
eggs will be the result. Is the nest too shallow so 
that she must keep a strained position or else rest 
her weight upon the eggs? Again, broken eggs 
will result. Has she more eggs than she can cover 
properly? At hatching time some of the chicks 
will get under her feet and perish miserably. Is 



48 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

she worried by lice or mites? She will leave the 
nest too often and perhaps ultimately quit before 
her job is done. 

The man who undertakes to hatch with hens is 
entering into a partnership, and he cannot fairly 
blame the "stupid hen" for lack of the intelligence 
he might have furnished and didn't. Alone and 
unaided Mother Biddy is not always a success at 
incubation. Her instinct plus man's intelligence 
makes a combination which cannot be beaten. 

Rules for Hen-hatching 

1. Keep all sitting hens away from other fowls. 

2. Provide shade, water, feed, grit, shelter and 
a chance to dust. 

3. Give no hen more eggs than she can cover 
easily. 

4. Dust at least twice during incubation with a 
good lice powder. 

5. Protect from mites with tobacco stems or 
powder in the nest. 

6. See that the nest is carefully shaped to fit the 
hen and so deep that she will not need to rest her 
weight on her feet to avoid breaking the eggs. 

7. Remove all broken eggs as soon as discovered. 
Wash soiled eggs in warm water and replace soiled 
nest material. 

8. See that the hen comes off every day to eat, 
and that she does not stay off too long. 

9. When several hens are sitting at once let 
them exchange nests. Some hens have more bodily 
warmth than others. 

10. Test all eggs the seventh or eighth day and 
remove all absolutely clear eggs. Neglect of this 
may cause considerable loss. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 49 

Nest Boxes 

Fourteen or fifteen inches square is the best size 
for a nest box, but if it is longer than wide it will 
do quite as well. A cracker box is exactly the right 
size, but an apple box answers very well. It is bet- 
ter to use new boxes each season, but a box that 
has never been infested with mites may be used 
again if it has been thoroughly washed and painted 
with kerosene and carbolic acid. A box which the 
mites have once found is never safe afterward. 

When you are sure that the box is clean, fill the 
bottom with moist dirt, enough to shape out a good- 
sized nest, and cover with straw, hay or excelsior. 
Both the comfort of the hen and the success of the 
hatch depend in no small measure on the shape and 
depth of the nest. 

Setting the Hen 

Night is the time for setting hens. After the hen 
has commenced to show signs of broodiness, she 
should be left on the old nest for a couple of days. 
The second night, after dark, transfer her gently 
to the new nest, put a couple of dummy eggs under 
her, and cover her with another box, taking care to 
leave plenty of ventilation. Leave her covered 
twenty-four hours, then, if she remains on the nest 
after being uncovered, or comes off and goes back, 
she is ready for the eggs. If she comes off and 
returns to the old nest, cover her up again and let 
her sit on the dummy eggs another twenty-four 
hours. Nothing is ever gained by hurrying a sit- 
ting hen, and you may spoil your hatch by attempt- 
ing it. 

Fifteen eggs are generally sold as a setting, but 
it is only a large hen that can cover so many, and 



50 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

that only in warm weather. Thirteen eggs are 
enough for the largest hen in winter, and a small 
one cannot do justice to more than eleven. When 
you have a setting of expensive eggs it is well to 
divide them between two hens. 

Next to freedom from insect pests, shade is prob- 
ably the greatest item in a sitting hen's comfort. 
She is hot and feverish and unable to move about 
and find a cool spot or to take the frequent sip of 
cool water that means so much to a hen. In cool 
weather she will be comfortable in any well venti- 
lated house or coop. In summer there is no place 
like the shade of a large tree. These details seem 
too minute to be worth while, but the success of the 
hatch often depends upon just such little things. 

The Hen-Incubator 

Much of the annoyance and worry connected with 
the care of hen-mothers will be avoided if a good 
many hens are set at the same time. When the clear 
eggs are tested out on the seventh day, the remain- 
ing eggs may be given to part of the hens and the 
rest reset. Then when the hatch comes off, the 
chicks may be given to part of the hens, twenty or 
twenty-five to each hen, and the other hens reset. 
In this way ten hens could easily hatch and raise 
150 chicks in a season, and if a small incubator 
were set to help out the hens the second time, they 
could raise 200 chicks. 

There are several devices for setting a number 
of hens in compact quarters, and these are known 
as hen-incubators. One is an arrangement by 
which the nests are banked against a house, each 
having its own door, so the hens may be kept con- 
fined except when they leave the nest to eat. By 
another plan the nests are arranged on the ground 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 51 

in a square or rectangle, separated from each other 
by boards and covered with wire. A very practi- 
cal incubating coop, accommodating four hens, is 
recommended by the Oregon Station (Bulletin 6). 
This coop serves the triple purpose of incubator, 
brooder and colony house. It is five feet long and 
three feet wide, with a shed roof three feet high at 
front and two feet at back, and is divided into four 
apartments. Movable partitions of canvas or bur- 
lap are fastened to a four-inch or six-inch board at 
the bottom and to a crosspiece at the top. It has 
an outside run three feet long for each hen, cov- 
ered with wire netting, as shown in Fig. 21. The 
runs are hooked on to the house and are dis- 
pensed with when the chicks are old enough to be 
given their liberty. The door on the front is hinged 
at the top so that it may be closed in rainy weather, 
but open the rest of the time. When the chicks no 
longer need hovering the partitions are taken out 
and the coop is used as roosting house. Fifty chicks 
can easily be brooded at once in such a coop as this 
by two hens, and the coop will still accommodate the 
pullets after the cockerels are removed. Coop is 
shown in Fig. 21. 

Testing the Eggs 

Whether eggs are hatched by hen or incubator, 
they should be tested the seventh day. An egg tester 
is always part of the equipment of an incubator, 
but one can be bought for a trifling amount at any 
supply store. When a fertile egg which has been 
incubated seven days is held before the tester, the 
chick can be plainly seen inside as a spider-like 
body. An infertile egg is perfectly clear. A dead 
germ shows merely as a dark blotch, which is really 



52 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

a blood clot, or as a red ring, which is technically 
known as a blood ring. 

There are three reasons for being particular to 
test the eggs on the seventh or eighth day. 

1. Infertile eggs tested out at this time are per- 
fectly good for food and ought not to be wasted. 

2. Dead germs may be detrimental to the hatch. 
They certainly give out carbon dioxide, and if the 
incubator thermometer should chance to rest upon 
an egg containing such a germ instead of upon one 
containing a live germ, it would not tell the exact 
truth about the temperature in the egg chamber. 

3. When several hens are set at once, after the 
clear eggs and dead germs have been tested out, the 
good eggs may be put under part of the hens and 
the other hens reset, thus saving considerable time. 

The eggs should be tested again for dead germs 
on the fourteenth day. At this time the strong 
eggs will be opaque and nearly black, and the dead 
germs will show as blood rings or simply as an in- 
distinct cloud. 

Feeding the Hen 

Sitting hens should be provided with hard grain, 
preferably whole corn or wheat, and should be taken 
off daily if they fail to come off regularly to eat. 
Old hens usually come off without being watched, 
but a young hen will sometimes stick to the nest 
till she is nearly starved. Give no soft food, for 
this may cause diarrhea. 

A hen that is fed regularly can easily sit two 
terms, but one that eats only occasionally is worn 
out at the end of three weeks. The hen should be 
watched at first to make sure that she returns to 
her nest in a reasonable time. It is just as well not 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 53 

to let her off for the first two days, for the eggs 
are likely to be chilled if she is slow in returning. 

Moisture in the Nest 

Many people sprinkle the eggs under a hen two 
or three times the last week. The advisability of 
this depends entirely upon the weather. When it 
is very dry I try to keep the dirt under the nest 
moist by pouring a little water in under the nest 
litter now and then. If the eggs are sprinkled, 
warm water should be used, but not until the hen 
is ready to go back on her nest. The eggs are not 
as easily chilled the last week as they are the first, 
but it is best to be careful. 

Where this is possible it is always best to set hens 
on the ground, for moisture from below is drawn 
up into the nest and helps maintain the right degree 
of humidity. 

Hatching is more difficult in Southern California 
than in many places on account of the dryness of 
the air, and it is usually necessary, except near the 
coast or in very wet weather, to add a little extra 
moisture. 

OPERATING THE INCUBATOR 

It is always wise for the beginner to follow im- 
plicitly the directions that come with the incubator 
he is using and not to be led astray by anything he 
may have read or heard on the subject. It is some- 
times hard to do this, but it must be done. The 
manufacturer of the incubator has given much time 
to learning how best to run it, and he knows more 
about its peculiarities than any one who has not 
become acquainted with it. When you have thor- 
oughly learned your machine, its peculiarities and 
its faults, and the principles on which ventilation 



54 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

and moisture are provided for, it is time enough to 
experiment. 

Here are some general rules for running incuba- 
tors which are given, with much other valuable in- 
formation on the subject, in Bulletin 585 of the 
Department of Agriculture, issued May 1, 1914 : 

Government Suggestions 

See that the incubator is running steadily at the 
desired temperature before filling with eggs. Do 
not add fresh eggs to a tray containing eggs which 
are undergoing incubation. 

Turn the eggs twice daily after the second and 
until the nineteenth day. Cool the eggs once daily, 
according to the weather, from the seventh to the 
nineteenth day. 

Turn the eggs before caring for the lamps. 

Attend to the machine carefully at regular hours. 

Keep the lamp and wick clean. 

Test the eggs on the seventh and fourteenth days. 

Do not open the machine after the eighteenth day 
until the chickens are hatched. 

In setting up the machine, get it perfectly level. 
Do not plane off the door if it sticks, until the ma- 
chine has been heated up and thoroughly dried. Run 
the machine at about 102 degrees F. for a day be- 
fore putting in the eggs. Afterwards do not touch 
the regulator for several hours, as it takes this time 
for the machine to come back to its regular tempera- 
ture. 

The temperature should remain nearly even. 
When the bulb of the thermometer rests directly on 
the eggs the temperature is usually held at 101 V2 
degrees to 102 degrees F. the first week, 102 degrees 
to 103 degrees F. the second week, and 103 degrees 
the last week ; while a hanging thermometer is oper- 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 55 

ated at about 102 to IO21/2 degrees F. the first two 
weeks, and 103 degrees F. the last week. 

The eggs tend to throw off more heat as they 
develop, so that occasionally the regulator needs to 
be changed slightly, but it should not be changed 
any more than is absolutely necessary. The tem- 
perature of the egg chamber may be lowered by 
lowering the flame of the lamp in the middle of the 
day. Regulate the incubator before opening the 
door to tend to the eggs. Most operators tend to 
their machines two or three times daily. 

Selecting an Incubator 

In selecting an incubator, do not try to save a 
little money at the expense of future success. The 
best is none too good. There are many good makes 
of incubators, but all are not equally good in the 
same locality. Find out what make the poultrymen 
in your vicinity are using and whether they are 
satisfied with it. In this, as in many other things, 
it is best to follow the crowd. 

Do not buy an incubator that is too small. One 
holding from 150 to 200 eggs is a good size for the 
man who raises but a few hundred chicks in a sea- 
son. The fifty and sixty-egg machines may do at 
first, but it takes no more oil and no more care to 
run a 200-egg machine, and it is very desirable that 
you hatch as many chicks at once as possible. When 
I began using incubators, I bought two fifty-egg 
machines and kept them going half a hatch apart, 
thinking that in this way I could better save all my 
hatching eggs. I saved all the eggs but found my- 
self utterly swamped by so many broods of different 
ages. One hatch from a 200-egg machine would 
have given me as many good thrifty chicks as I man- 
aged to raise that season, and I should have saved 



56 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

much time and strength. Saving labor is the heart 
and essence of poultry keeping, and money that 
saves it is well spent. 

Professor Brigham in "Progressive Poultry Cult- 
ure" gives the following points which must be care- 
fully considered in selecting an incubator: 

1. The heating system should be safe, of ample 
power, and under perfect automatic regulation, 
within reasonable limits. 

2. The ventilating system should be capable of 
easy adjustment, so that the amount of pure air 
positively supplied to the eggs may be under com- 
plete control. 

3. It should be possible to ascertain and regu- 
late easily the amount of moisture in the atmos- 
phere of the egg chamber. 

4. The walls of the incubator should be suf- 
ficiently insulated to prevent the influence of outside 
temperature causing uneven temperatures on the 
level of the egg trays. 

5. The machine should be made of first-class 
materials and carefully constructed. 

The Incubator Room 

Professor Brigham also makes these suggestions 
as to the room in which the incubator is operated : 

"It should be held at an even temperature and not 
be liable to sudden fluctuations because of outside 
changes in the weather. 

"Ventilation should be ample and under control, 
so that there will be no liability of strong drafts of 
air striking directly against the lamps or the incu- 
bators. 

"The room should be well lighted, so that all of 
the operations, including the reading of the ther- 
mometers in the egg chambers, can be conducted 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 57 

without difficulty or discomfort so far as eyesight 
is concerned. The windows should be provided with 
shades if the sun is liable to shine directly upon an 
incubator while it is in operation. 

"It is most important that the floor of the in- 
cubator house be firm and solid. I prefer an earthen 
floor, for then whatever is dropped upon such a 
floor it will not cause a shock to the embryo. It is 
always advisable to keep as quiet as possible in an 
incubator house during the time the machines are 
working, and for that reason a good lock should be 
fixed upon the door and only the one attendant 
allowed to go into the house. An incubator may be 
worked in a spare room of a dwelling house, and 
I have known several cottagers who have excellent 
results every season when using them in such 
places.'' 

A cellar is generally considered the best place for 
running an incubator, but it must be dry, as well as 
well lighted and ventilated. Cement floors are gen- 
erally preferred to wood or earth, but earth is satis- 
factory except for the matter of regulating moist- 
ure. A kitchen is a very poor place for the machine 
because of the constantly changing temperature. 

Use Good Oil 

Nothing is more certain to spoil a hatch than the 
use of cheap oil. It is economy to use the best. 
But the oil can should never be kept in the incuba- 
tor room, and the eggs should be turned before the 
lamp is filled lest a minute particle of oil on the 
fingers touch the egg and kill the embryo. Kero- 
sene is sure death to the germ. I once lost practi- 
cally all of a hatch because the box in which the hen 
was sitting had been soaked with kerosene and not 
enough dirt put in the bottom to keep the oil from 



58 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

soaking through into the nest. On such trifling mat- 
ters as this does the success of a hatch depend. 

Test the Thermometer 

The incubator thermometer should be tested at 
the beginning of every season. Any druggist will 
test the thermometer for you, or you can do it your- 
self by obtaining a physician's clinical thermometer, 
which is known to be correct, and placing the bulbs 
of both thermometers in water which has been 
warmed to 100 degrees. The difference should be 
carefully noted and allowed for in reading the in- 
cubator thermometer. 

It is also a good plan to test the temperature of 
the Qg^ chamber by placing several thermometers 
in different positions on the tray. If the tempera- 
ture in one part of the egg chamber is lower than 
in other places, this indicates that that side of the 
tray is lower and needs to be raised. 

The Moisture Problem 

Many incubators require additional moisture at 
hatching time, but this is a matter that should not 
be meddled with until you are perfectly sure that 
yours is this sort of machine. It is a problem the 
best operator understands but partially, and there 
is almost as much danger of drowning the chicks 
by giving too much moisture as of their failing to 
get out of the shell for lack of it. If the air is too 
dry the moisture in the egg will evaporate too 
rapidly. If the air is too moist it will evaporate too 
slowly. There you are, between Scylla and Chary b- 
dis, for no one has yet devised a way of finding 
out certainly whether the vapor pressure, which is 
practically the same as humidity, is just right or 
not. When it has been proved, by previous hatches, 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 59 

that additional moisture is necessary, it is best 
added by sprinkling the floor of the incubator cellar, 
which should be of cement, if possible, often enough 
to keep it wet. Sometimes the eggs are sprinkled 
with warm water several times the last week ; some- 
times, when they are slow in pipping, a flannel cloth 
wrung out of warm water and laid on top of the eggs 
has good results; in many machines a tray of wet 
sand is used at the beginning and end of the hatch ; 
in others a water pan is provided which is filled 
with water when moisture is needed, and with 
others the operator is instructed to dip the eggs, 
tray and all, in warm water on the eighteenth day, 
before the incubator doors are closed for the last 
time. I have found it a good plan, when I used a 
machine which made no provision for extra mois- 
ture, to insert the spout of a kettle full of boiling 
water in one of the ventilators. If the eggs were 
pipping slowly this always hurried them up. 

Whatever you do, follow the directions with the 
incubator implicitly until you know you can improve 
upon them. I have an idea that more failures in 
artificial incubation come from not following exactly 
the printed rules for the particular machine used 
than from all other reasons combined. 

DEATH IN THE SHELL 

The death of chicks in the shell, at hatching time 
or shortly before, is one of the tragedies of poultry 
keeping, and a problem that has never been fully 
solved. 

Among the reasons that have been advanced for 
these untimely deaths are the following: 

1. Too much moisture, which makes the chick 
so large that it is cramped for room and cannot 
break through the shell. 



60 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 




2. Too little mois- 
ture, which causes 
excessive evapora- 
tion. The chick lacks 
bulk and is unable 
to exert sufficient 
pressure to break 
the egg, or when it 
does do this the in- 
ner lining of the 
shell dries on it and 
keeps it from 
moving. 

3. Irregular tem- 
perature during in- 
cubation, which 
weakens the germ 
so that the chick 
dies before it can 
free itself. 

4. Weakness in the chick, due to lack of vigor in 
the parent stock. 

5. Too high temperature the first days of in- 
cubation. 

6. Too low temperature in the under parts of 
the egg. 

7. Strangulation, caused by the chick becoming 
choked with unused albumen. 

8. Lack of adequate ventilation during third 
week of incubation. 

9. Excessive ventilation during last half of in- 
cubation period. 

10. Keeping hatching eggs too long, which 
weakens the germ and causes loss of hatching 
power. 

11. Failure to turn the eggs daily, which causes 



FIG. 19 DIAGRAM SHOWING AIE CELLS AT 

DIPFEREXT STAGES OF INCUBATION 




FIG. 21 HATCHING AND BROODING COOP 




FIG. 22 liUOODEK HOUSE AND UFNS ON I'OULTUY UANCII, UIVKUSIDE 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 61 

the germ to adhere to one side of the egg and pre- 
vents its development. 

Chicks that have been unable to free themselves 
from the shell may often be freed by the operator 
after the hatch is over. Break the shell v^here the 
egg has been pipped, or make a tiny hole w^ith a 
pin if you hear the chick peep inside an unpipped 
eggy being careful not to puncture the delicate mem- 
brane which surrounds the chick; then carefully 
break aw^ay enough of the shell so that the chick 
can work itself out. Sometimes dipping a pipped 
egg into warm water, without, of course, allowing 
the water to enter the hole, or wrapping it in a flan- 
nel, wet in warm water, will bring the chick out. 
The chick should always be laid in a warm place 
while it is hatching itself, and it is usually safer 
not to leave it under the hen. She is almost sure to 
crush the little helpless creature. 

When the chick is weak because the parent stock 
was weak or on account of faulty incubation, there 
is nothing to be gained by helping it out of the shell. 
It will die sooner or later or, if it lives, will be a 
runt. 

Recent investigations have shown that weakness 
of the germ is probably responsible for by far the 
larger part of these untimely deaths. A vigorous 
germ develops into a strong chick which will man- 
age to get out of the shell somehow in spite of lack 
of moisture. It is noticeable in every hatch that it 
is the strongest chicks that come out first, while 
the late hatched chick is rarely worth raising. Vigor 
in the parent stock and frequent introduction of 
new blood are the best means of producing germs 
that will hatch in spite of faulty conditions. If one 
cannot afford to send away for new blood every 
year, he can usually manage to trade cockerels with 



62 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



a neighbor, and the result of this out-breeding will 
soon show in the increased hatchability of germs 
and livability of chicks. 

The fact that the percentage of eggs hatched by- 
hens is hardly larger than the percentage of those 
hatched by incubators seems to indicate that the 
failure of eggs to hatch is due to something farther 
back than incuba- 
tion, and this 



Rleht foot, Left foot. 



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^ 4 



4v A 



A i 

A 4^ 



A' ^ 



A: ^ 



_4 4i 



i i 



4^ 4v 



4>- /k 



A ^ 



A ^ 



I I 



FIG. 



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20 DIFFEREXT TOE MARKINGS FOR BABY 

CHICKS 



something is 
probably care- 
less breeding. 
Very few ama- 
teurs can resist 
the temptation to 
breed from a 
large, well-colored 
bird, whether it 
is vigorous or not, 
and here is prob- 
ably the secret of 
most of our trou- 
ble. Careful at- 
tention to the principles of breeding, though it seems 
to entail present loss, will certainly lessen consider- 
ably this deplorable loss of life in the shell. 

Marking Chicks 

In order to know the age of chicks, and also of 
the adult fowls, and in order to know the parentage 
of different broods, some method of marking is 
absolutely necessary. After they are grown the 
birds may be banded with leg bands showing a num- 
ber, and a complete record kept by number, but 
while they are small this is impracticable. 

The best method of marking is to use a punch. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



63 



which costs 25 cents, punching the web of the foot 
on one or both sides. Sixteen different markings 
are possible (Fig. 20). By keeping a careful record 
of these you may know the exact age of every bird 
in the flock. 




CHAPTER IV. 

Brooding 

REARING BABY CHICKS 

The principles of chick raising are the same, 
whether the chicks are raised by hens or in brooders 
or in a box with a jug of hot water. Warmth, nour- 
ishment, fresh air, cleanliness, sunshine and exer- 
cise, and protection from insects and marauding 
animals are the sum total of the requirements, and 
the art of rearing every chick hatched, providing 
the parent stock is what it should be, is simply the 
art of giving careful attention to these details. 
Losses of chick life each year are enormous, aver- 
aging the country over, half the chicks hatched, 
and by far the greater part of these could be avoided 
by painstaking attention to these simple, essential 
requirements of all young life. 

Rearing chicks with hens is easier and more satis- 
factory than raising them in brooders, despite the 
"crankiness" of the mother hen. It is Nature's 
way, and provides a combination of warmth with 
fresh air and exercise which can not be duplicated 
in any other way. Sometimes it is best, when several 
hens are caring for large broods all the same age, to 
put hens and chicks together in a large yard, confin- 
ing each hen in her own coop. If they are together 
from the start, the chicks will run together, and the 
hens will know no difference, but will brood any 
chick that comes. By putting four hens with 100 
chicks in such a yard the chicks can be fed with much 
less trouble, and a fine flock will grow up together. 




FIG. 11 BROODER HOUSE. 1200 CHICK CAPACITY 




FIG. 



12 SIMPLEST FORM OF LONG HOUSE FOR LAYERS OR BREEDERS 

ACCOMMODATES 125 LEGHORNS OR 100 HEAVY HENS 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 65 

Such a plan is not possible on large poultry plants 
where thousands of chicks are raised yearly, but it is 
entirely feasible where 500 or 600 are raised. 

Warmth the First Essential 

Rest and warmth are the first requirements of a 
newly hatched chick. The last day of hatching it 
draws into its abdomen the yolk of the egg, and 
this is food enough for the first two days. All it 
needs now is to lie quietly in a warm place and sleep, 
but it must be warm or it cannot sleep. Lack of 
sufficient heat the first two days is the great cause 
of bowel trouble and death. A slight chill causes 
indigestion, there is diarrhea (not white diar- 
rhea), the chick becomes pasted up behind, stands 
around "hunched up" and miserable, and soon dies. 
It is extremely important, therefore, that in moving 
chicks from incubator to brooder, or from sitting 
box to coop, every precaution be taken to prevent 
chilling; that brooders be so warm that the chick 
will lie down comfortably and sleep, and that 
mother hens, if they do not understand their busi- 
ness, be compelled to brood their charges or give 
them up. 

Just how soon after hatching a chick should be fed 
is a mooted question among experts, but all agree 
that it should not be less than forty-eight hours. 
In most broods some chicks will begin to hunt for 
food while others are still resting under the hen. 
These older chicks should be fed when they seem 
hungry. Those that are not ready to eat will not 
eat. 

Overcrowding is one of the greatest enemies to 
the growth and health of baby chicks. A brooder 
that is just right when the chicks are first hatched 
will be far too small when they are three weeks 



66 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

old, for a normal chick doubles its size in three 
weeks. See that the growing chick has room to 
grow in. If it has not, it will be a runt. Chicks *do 
better in flocks of not more than fifty, and when 
particularly fine chicks are wanted, they must be 
raised in smaller flocks than this. On large plants 
it is necessary to brood hundreds of chicks together, 
but losses are greater. The Leghorn, however, 
which is always kept on these large egg farms, can 
bear much more crowding than other breeds. 

Protection from lice and mites and from all sorts 
of animal foes is a vital part of chick raising. No 
chick can thrive when it is infested with lice, and 
the red mite, which sucks its blood at night, is a 
deadly enemy. Dusting or greasing hen-hatched 
chicks when they are first hatched, and once a week 
afterward; dusting brooder chicks every week; 
keeping all sitting hens free from lice, and using 
some good lice paint on coops and brooders to keep 
mites from finding a hiding place in them, will keep 
chicks free from these troublesome pests. 

Cats, dogs, hawks, squirrels and the like are not 
so easily guarded against. Covered runs are the 
best solution of the problem, but chicks ought to 
have range, if it is at all possible, after the first 
week or two, and it is a pity to be obliged to deprive 
them of this because of marauding animals. Every 
poultrykeeper will find his own way of controlling 
the neighbor's dog or cat. Sometimes the chicks 
will have to be shut up ; sometimes the animals can 
be confined. 

In California coops and runs for baby chicks 
should always front east, so that the chicks may 
have the morning sun and be protected from the 
western coast winds. Exposure to these winds is 
very detrimental to young stock, and they should 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 67 

always be provided with some sort of windbreak. 
Burlap sacks, fastened to the side of the coop from 
which the wind comes, make an excellent windbreak 
in ordinary weather, and in very stormy weather 
the coop may be placed in the lee of a house. 

Hardly less important than warmth, even at the 
start, and even more important in the long run, is 
an adequate supply of pure air. Chicks cared for 
by hens in open coops breathe fresh air day and 
night. The brooder chick is handicapped in this 
respect, and the greatest care should be used in 
selecting a brooder to make sure that it has a good 
circulation of air under the hover. Professor Rice 
says in one of his Cornell bulletins: 'Ture air is 
of more importance to fowls than it is to other 
domestic animals because of the warmer tempera- 
ture of the fowl's body. This high body tempera- 
ure is maintained by combustion of the food nutri- 
ents contained in the blood in the presence of pure 
air. Without pure air perfect combustion is impossi- 
ble. Without perfect combustion the chick cannot be 
warmed from within the body and therefore will 
not be comfortable nor healthy even in a warm 
brooder. The chick is a quick-growing, quick- 
breathing animal, requiring rapid digestive and as- 
similative changes, and therefore suffers seriously 
and quickly when closely confined and compelled to 
breathe impure air. Leg weakness is almost cer- 
tain to result from close confinement and heavy 
feeding, which usually are accompanied by a close 
and more or less vitiated atmosphere." 

THE HEN AND HER BROOD 

When the hen is hatching she should be left 
quietly on her nest and not disturbed, except by 
slipping the hand under her to remove the egg shells, 



68 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

till the hatch is over. If she will eat from the hand 
she may be given a little whole corn or wheat, but 
she will not suffer if she is not fed. When the 
chicks come out from under the hen and begin to 
climb about the nest, it is time to remove them to 
the coop. 

There is no better brood coop than can be made 
from a good-sized drygoods box sawed through the 
middle at an angle so that there are two coops, each 
with a shed roof. The roof must be made tight, and 
there must be no cracks in back and sides. Wire 
may be tacked across the upper part of the coop 
to keep out rats, and there should be a sliding door 
of two-inch wire so that the hen may be confined 
while the chicks go in and out. A wire run of one- 
inch mesh about two feet high, four or five feet long, 
and as wide as the coop, is used with it, and may be 
attached to the coop by a hook and eye. The coop 
should have a board floor. While chicks can be 
brooded on the ground in dry weather, they need 
a floor when it is wet. 

A grocery box, if it is high enough for the hen 
to stand up in, makes a good brood coop, and has 
this advantage, that, having cost but little, it may 
be discarded at the end of the season. This is a 
great advantage in California where mites have 
always to be dealt with. 

The old-fashioned A-coop may often be made from 
scraps of lumber, and is as good as any if it is not 
used with a run. It would be particularly suitable 
where several broods are kept in one yard. 

Before hen and chicks are removed from the nest, 
see that the coop is perfectly clean, and cover the 
floor with a layer of clean sand covered with fine 
cut alfalfa. Scatter a handful of grit and another 
of steel cut oats over the litter. The addition of a 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 69 

fountain of clean water completes the preparation 
of the coop. 

If the chicks are put into the coop the morning 
of the second day after hatching, the steel cut oats 
in the litter will be all they need till night. About 
five o'clock give a hard-boiled egg chopped, shell and 
all, with an equal amount of dry bread as an appe- 
tizer, or, if that is not convenient, scatter more steel- 
cut oats or rolled oats. There is no special virtue 
in egg and bread, but the chicks like it and eat it 
a little more eagerly than they do the dry feed. A 
little onion chopped in is good for them. (Fig. 32.) 

The second day a dish of dry bran may be set 
before them, and more steel-cut oats scattered. 
Cracked wheat may be added to the oats or commer- 
cial chick feed given instead. It is a good plan to 
give an occasional meal of egg and bread the first 
five days. Chicks grow faster when they are coaxed 
a little. After five days they can settle down to 
commercial chick feed and the Cornell chick mash, 
with lettuce once a day. 

The hen should be confined in the coop for a week 
at least. If she does not brood the chicks as she 
should, darken the coop, but the confinement is usu- 
ally sufficient. A hen that does not pay proper 
attention to her brood should be discarded. Let the 
chicks go back and forth through the wire door as 
soon as they are old enough to find their way back, 
but confine them in the wire run until they are sev- 
eral weeks old. If the weather is fine, and there 
are no dogs or cats about, they may be out after ten 
days. 

Keep the hen in the run at all times. She will 
be much easier to manage and will not be able to 
tire the chicks out by dragging them too far or to 
chill them in the early morning dew, and the chicks 



70 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

will always know where to find her if they want her. 
The hen is the best mother for chicks, but she must 
be managed. 

It is a good plan to have an oil cloth cover for 
the run, in case of rain, but burlap sacks are a better 
protection from the sun. Never leave hen or chicks 
without shade. The glare of the sun is uncomfort- 
able for the hen and may kill the chicks. 

Give fresh water every time the chicks are fed, 
and keep grit in a shallow box or pan where they 
can always reach it. On very gravelly soil this m^ay 
not be necesary, but it is always safe. 

Dry mash should be kept before the chicks at all 
times, and the grain scattered in the run or kept in 
a feeder. Where chicks have range they will not 
overeat even if not made to scratch for their grain, 
but where they are confined in the run they must 
be made to scratch. 

Protection from lice is a more serious problem 
with hen mothers than when chicks are artificially 
brooded. The hen should be kept clean during incu- 
bation and dusted just before the hatch comes off. 
If the head and throat of each chick are greased 
with lard when they are put in the brood coop, there 
will be no danger of head lice, but hen and chicks 
must be dusted once a week or they will soon be 
infested with ordinary hen lice, and their growth 
hindered. This matter of lice is a vital one with 
chicks and turkeys and is of itself enough to make 
the difference between success and failure in the 
chicken business. 

The coop should be cleaned out at least once a 
week, and clean nesting material put in. Hose out 
the coop whenever it is cleaned, and once a month 
paint with kerosene and crude carbolic acid — one 
part acid to three or four of kerosene. Coop and run 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 71 

should be often moved to new ground. Clean coops, 
clean ground and clean water are more important 
than the kind of feed, but all are very important. 

ARTIFICIAL BROODING 

In England, when brooders were first invented, 
they were called "foster mothers," a most sugges- 
tive title and indicative of what the brooder's func- 
tion should be. 

Three types of brooders are in general use on 
farms and poultry ranches: 

1. Fireless brooders. 

2. Indoor and outdoor lamp brooders. 

3. Colony-house brooders heated by gasoline, dis- 
tillate or hot water. 

Fireless Brooders 

The fireless brooder has come to stay ; there is no 
doubt about it. It is hardly suitable for use in very 
cold weather unless in a heated room where the 
temperature does not go below 40 degrees at night 
or 60 degrees in the daytime, but for ordinary 
weather, and especially in warm climates, it is more 
economical for the user and more healthful for the 
chicks than a lamp heated brooder. 

The fireless brooder in common use is a box from 
fourteen to eighteen inches square, with a door on 
one side. A frame made to fit the box loosely, so 
that air may come in around it, rests on a peg in 
each corner, and to this is tacked a square of canton 
flannel which sags in the middle so that it rests on 
the backs of the chicks. On this is laid a quilt made 
of cheesecloth and cotton batting. If the night is 
very cold another quilt is added. Roofing paper 
covers the bottom, and the box is filled in with straw 
or chaff, so that the chicks have a warm nest to 
cuddle in under their quilt. 



72 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

A box like this accommodates twenty-five chicks, 
no less and not many more. A smaller number can- 
not keep each other warm, and a larger number — 
more than forty, say — will crowd together and crush 
each other. In warm weather and when kept in a 
warm room these brooders are very successful, and 
it is often possible to keep chicks a week in one of 
the lamp brooders, and then transfer them to a fire- 
less brooder where they have a better chance for 
fresh air and exercise. 

The Lamp Brooder 

Indoor and outdoor lamp-heated brooders have 
been very popular but are being discarded for the 
fireless brooders on the one hand and the colony- 
house brooders on the other. The objections to 
lamp brooders are: 

1. Their small size. Most of them, though they 
may be advertised as holding 100 chicks, are really 
suitable for but fifty, and this, if several hundred 
chicks are to be raised in a season, is too small a 
number to brood at once. The more chicks you can 
raise at one time, the easier is the work of hatching, 
which is arduous enough at the best, and the easier 
is it to care for the growing chicks. 

2. Lack of exercising space. The chicks do very 
well for a week or two, but the exercising room is 
of necessity too small to accommodate them long, 
and a stairway up and down which they must pass 
is a delusion and a snare. 

3. Difficulty in getting the chicks far enough 
away from the heat. As the chicks grow they need 
to be more and more in the cool, fresh air, and this 
is not always easy to manage with a lamp brooder. 

Probably the lamp brooder which most nearly 
meets the conditions of successful brooding is the 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 73 

style which is heated by hot water pipes and can 
be built, in a manner, into the brooder house. A 
brooder house fitted up with such brooders is shown 
in Fig. 22. The house contains four brooders, each 
with its indoor run and its outdoor run. The east 
side of the house, which the brooders face, is all 
windows, and these can be opened in warm weather 
or closed if the weather is cold and stormy. Four 
hundred chicks are cared for at once in this house, 
and the owner finds it much more satisfactory than 
brooding with hens. 

The Colony-Hoitse Brooder 

Where more than a hundred chicks are to be 
raised artificially, the colony-house brooder is the 
thing. A colony-house 8 x 10, holding from two to 
three hundred chicks, can be built and heated for 
about $30. A house twelve feet square with a little 
larger heater will brood 600 chicks at once. 

There are many different heating systems for 
these houses. Some heat with hot water pipes, some 
with gasoline or distillate stoves, usually with hov- 
ers, but sometimes without. A person contemplat- 
ing such a brooder-house should investigate the dif- 
ferent heating systems on the market and select one 
which is most generally used. The gasoline heating 
system in use at the Cornell Experiment Station is 
very highly recommended, and, as it is not patented, 
is not expensive. A descriptive circular may be had 
by writing the College of Agriculture, Cornell Uni- 
versity, Ithaca, N. Y. 

One advantage of such a system as this is that 
the house may be used the year round. After the 
chicks no longer need the heat, the heater may be 
removed, and the house used as roosting house for 
the young stock. Later, the house, if it is portable. 



74 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

as such a colony house should be, may be moved out 
into a field and used for pullets or breeding stock. 

With a house of this style chicks may be given as 
much range as is convenient. A small side door 
allows them to come and go as they will, and there 
is no limit to the ground they may range over. 

CARING FOR BROODER CHICKS 

The trick of caring for brooder chicks consists 
largely in finding out what the fault of your par- 
ticular make of brooder is, and then overcoming it. 

In Fireless Brooders 

All things considered, there is probably no more 
risk in raising chicks in fireless brooders than in 
other artificial brooders, and it is much cheaper. 
The brooder should be kept indoors the first week 
and should be under shelter at night for several 
weeks, depending on the weather. If one is going 
to raise a considerable number of chicks in this way 
it is best to have a brooder house and to arrange 
for some kind of heat. 

Breaking the chicks to the brooder is no more 
diflficult with fireless brooders than with others. The 
chicks, when first taken from the incubator, should 
be covered up warmly and left to sleep till they are 
at least forty-eight hours old. Then let them out 
into the run with which every fireless brooder must 
be provided, and let them peck at the sand and take 
a drink of water. After half an hour, or less if they 
seem cold, shut them up for another rest, and after 
an hour or so let them out again and scatter rolled 
oats or steel cut oats on the sand. This program 
must be kept up till the chicks have learned to go 
in when they are cold and out when they are hungry, 
but the caretaker must remember that one chick 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 75 

alone will not be warm in the brooder, unless the 
sun is shining on it. Fireless brooders should 
always be put in a sheltered place where they will 
get the sun. Probably there is nothing better than 
a Philo coop fronting south for this purpose. When 
there is no sunshine, it is a good plan to give the 
chicks a jug of hot water, wrapped in flannel, to 
cuddle about during the day. At night when shut 
in the brooder, they will keep each other warm. 

Just how often the chicks should be let out of the 
brooder these first few days is a question of temper- 
ature and the disposition of the chicks. If they wish 
to be quiet, leave them alone. If they are restless 
and impatient, let them out more. If they seem 
chilly, get them in at once. Never, never, allow 
chicks to huddle. The minute they begin to lean 
against each other, get them in. This is the sign 
that they are cold. 

There are no set rules for raising brooder chicks. 
The best any one can do is to use his common sense. 
The caretaker of a brooder flock is in loco parentis 
always and must expect to do anything a hen does 
except cluck. 

If the chicks do not seem warm enough, it is a 
good plan to set a jug of hot water in the brooder. 
The quilt will have to be removed, and a blanket 
spread over the top of jug and box, so that it rests 
on the backs of the chicks. This is a very satisfac- 
tory way of brooding chicks, for they like nothing 
better than to cuddle against something warm, but 
it is difficult to maintain the proper temperature. 

In Heated Brooders 

With heated, as with fireless, brooders the main 
problem is warmth, only in using the heated brood- 
ers it is still more difficult. Here you have over- 



76 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

heating as well as chill to guard against, and the 
ventilation problem as well. If I should attempt to 
classify the enemies against which one must con- 
tend with different ways of brooding, it would be 
something like this: 

Hens — Vermin. 

Fireless brooders — Chill and vermin. 

Heated brooders — Chill, vermin and overheating. 

The more artificial your system becomes, the more 
complications arise and the more watchful must 
the caretaker be. 

Before the incubator hatch comes off, the brooder 
must be ready. It was disinfected when it was put 
away at the end of last season^s work and again at 
the beginning of this season's, and it must certainly 
be cleaned and disinfected between hatches, not so 
much from fear of white diarrhea, as because of 
the wicked red mite, which is a more dangerous foe. 
After the brooder has been swept and washed till it 
looks clean, go over it with a cloth, wet in water 
containing a little creolin. If the brooder has been 
infested with mites, this will not be sufficient. Every 
bit of wood should be painted with the kerosene and 
carbolic acid mixture (1 part crude carbolic acid to 
3 or 4 of kerosene) . Go over it inside and out, for 
mites will go through if there is a tiny crack any- 
where. 

When it is thoroughly clean, cover the floor of the 
brooder with clean, coarse sand, and on top of the 
sand scatter cut alfalfa, either green or dry. A 
little dry straw under the hover will help to make 
the chicks comfortable. Scatter grit and steel-cut 
oats in the litter, and provide a fountain of fresh 
water, and your brooder is ready, except for the 
matter of heating. 

The brooder lamp should be cleaned and filled 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 77 

and lighted at least twenty-four hours before the 
chicks are to be taken from the incubator, and the 
thermometer should Ishow a temperature of 100 
degrees or more. Remember the chick comes from 
a temperature of 103 or 104 degrees, and while the 
temperature was lowered somewhat while he was in 
the nursery, it was not enough to harden him. Re- 
member too, that the hen's temperature, if she were 
brooding him, would be 105 degrees, and that he 
likes to be very warm. If your brooder lamp, like 
one I used, does not heat the brooder sufficiently, 
add hot water in pails, jugs or jars till you reach 
the 100 mark. 

Directions for using brooders usually say : "Leave 
the chicks in the incubator nursery twenty-four to 
forty-eight hours after hatching." This is all right 
for experts, but for beginners I believe it is safer 
to take the chicks from the nursery as soon as the 
hatch is over and put them in a flannel-lined box or 
basket. Cover them well with a warm blanket, and 
if they do not sleep quietly, let them have a flannel- 
wrapped jug of hot water to cuddle about. I say 
this because I have found it very difficult to control 
the heat in the nursery of an incubator. If the 
thermometer is left hanging where it was during 
the hatch, it will not show what the temperature is 
in the nursery, and if it is placed in the nursery it 
is more than likely to be knocked over, so that you 
cannot see it at all. If the chicks lie quietly and 
sleep, the heat may be just right, or it may be too 
high. If they stand up or peep miserably, they are 
cold. A newly hatched chick never peeps if it is 
comfortable. 

The idea is to gradually lower the temperature 
from the time the chicks are out of the shell, and you 
cannot do this unless you know the temperature. 



78 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

When the chicks are once in the brooder (of course 
they have been kept carefully covered in transit) 
you can soon find out whether the brooder is warm 
enough. If the chicks lie flat under the hover and 
sleep, they are warm; if they stand up, they are 
chilly. ''Give them heat till they flatten out" is an 
excellent rule. 

It will be necessary at first to fasten the chicks 
under the hover with a board, only letting them out 
to eat the first day, and they must be pushed back 
under the hover from time to time when they seem 
cold or when it is time for them to rest, till they 
have learned where to go when they are cold or tired. 
The mother hen calls her babies constantly the first 
few days, and they learn almost at once that that 
soft, comfortable cluck means comfort. The person 
who cares for an incubator brood must be just as 
unremitting in his attention as the mother hen. Neg- 
lect the first four days means great loss. After this 
time the chicks rapidly become hardened and may 
be left longer to themselves. 

Chicks reared in heated brooders need heat for 
about six weeks, but chicks that have been trans- 
ferred to fireless brooders at two or three weeks of 
age soon learn to do without artificial heat and are 
more vigorous without it. 

Cold Brooders 

When they have outgrown the need of heat, chicks 
in the colony-house brooder will begin to roost on 
low roosts which are provided in the same house. 
Chicks raised in lamp or fireless brooders can be 
transferred at this time to small coops, called cold 
brooders, where they can roost if they wish. It is 
not usually necessary to teach them to roost. They 
will learn gradually if the roosts are there. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



79 



When I transfer chicks from the brooder to the 
cold brooder I give them a box or basket of litter to 
sleep in. This is cleaned out every day, so they 



A- Z" POULTRY NETTING 




FIG. 23— COOP rOR CHICKS JUST OUT OF BROODER 

have always a comfortable bed beneath the roosts. 
One by one they find their places on the roosts with- 
out further trouble on my part. 

EXERCISE FOR CHICKS 

With the exception of the necesary warmth the 
first week after hatching, nothing is quite so vital to 
the life and health of the chick as exercise. Its im- 
portance cannot be overestimated. It means good 
digestion, muscular development, all, in fact, that it 
means to human beings. Pullets that have not as 
chicks had sufficient exercise to develop the egg- 
laying organs rarely make good layers. It is the 
sine qua non with all fowls, but especially with 
growing chicks, for they are laying the foundation 
for later vigor and usefulness. 



80 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

Green range is the best solution of the exercise 
problem. Chicks that are on range need no other 
exercise, and one has only to watch the activity of a 
brood of chicks two weeks old to realize what it 
means to be deprived of this outlet for the energies. 

It ought to be possible on any farm to give chicks 
free range. On a back lot it is more difficult, but by 
fencing in the garden with inch-mesh wire some 
range may be given, and young chicks, if the hen is 
confined, will not hurt the garden. 

A patch of alfalfa for the exclusive use of chicks 
may be easily had anywhere except on a city lot. 
Even a small patch will do. The chicks can pick 
their own green feed and much of their animal food 
in the shape of insects, and they get the exercise, 
which is beyond price. 

When green range cannot possibly be had, deep 
scratching litter is the best substitute. At the Cali- 
fornia experiment station brooder chicks are made 
to dig for every grain as soon as they have learned 
to eat. 

KEEP YOUNG STOCK GROWING 

It is not enough to get chickens well started. While 
it is true that a chick three weeks old is half raised, 
there is still the other half of the raising to accom- 
plish, and failure anywhere is fatal, not to life, but 
to profit. Lice, overheating, lack of ventilation, 
overcrowding, insufficient or improper food, expos- 
ure to chill winds, may any one of them give a set- 
back from which the chick will not recover. 

Pullets that are depended on for fall eggs must 
make steady growth from start to finish. The devel- 
opment of the egg-producing organs is not a thing 
apart which takes place just before the fowl begins 
to lay. It is coincident with the development of the 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 81 

rest of the body, and so small a matter as the con- 
stant teasing and irritation of lice is enough to af- 
fect it. 

At two months of age pullets and cockerels should 
be separated, the cockerels confined and fattened for 
broilers and the pullets put in colony houses where 
they will have as much range as possible. 

A colony house 8 x 12 will hold fifty Leghorn pul- 
lets and a somewhat smaller number of pullets of 
the heavy breeds. 



CHAPTER V. 

Feeding 

POULTRY FEEDS 

Food substances are classified as (1) water, (2) 
carbohydrates, (3) fat, (4) protein, (5) ash. 

Water constitutes about three-fifths of the egg and 
three-fourths of the body of the fowl. An abun- 
dant supply of pure water is therefore a necessity 
to both chick and laying hen. 

Carbohydrates are the sugars and starches. They 
make up the greater part of all grains and are used 
to produce heat and energy. 

Fat is stored up heat and energy. One pound of 
fat develops two and a quarter times as much heat 
as a pound of sugar or starch. In finding the nutri- 
tive ratio of any feed the amount of fat is multiplied 
by 214 and expressed as carbohydrates. This is for 
convenience merely. 

Protein is the general name for all substances 
which contain nitrogen. It is the muscle and tissue 
maker and constitutes all the solid part of the white 
of an egg. Chicks cannot grow nor hens lay with- 
out protein. Protein can take the place of carbo- 
hydrates as a producer of heat and energy, but noth- 
ing can take the place of protein as a repairer of 
the waste of the body or for making eggs. 

Ash is the mineral matter which would be left if 
everything else were burned away. It is necessary 
for bone making. 

The proportion which the digestible protein in 
any kind of feed bears to the digestible fats and 




FIG. 17 BREEDING HOUSE WITH ADJUSTABLE DOOUS 




FIG. 18 — PORTABLE TARRED-PAPER HOUSE 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 83 

carbohydrates is called the nutritive ratio. Thus, 
when we say the nutritive ratio of shrunken wheat 
is 1 :6.5, we mean that the wheat contains one part 
protein to six and a half of carbohydrates and fats. 
There is a difference between the actual protein and 
that proportion of the actual protein which is diges- 
tible. Some substances like oat hay contain a good 
deal more protein than it is possible for animals to 
digest, while others like peas and beans contain the 
protein in such shape that it is nearly all digestible. 

This matter of digestibility of protein in its vari- 
ous forms is a very difficult one to understand. 
Probably no one does quite understand it. Milo 
Hastings says in 'The Dollar Hen" : "In digestion 
these proteins are all torn to pieces and built up into 
other kinds of protein. Just as in tearing down an 
old house only a portion of the material can be used 
in a new house, so it is with protein, and laboratory 
analysis cannot tell us how much of the old house 
can be utilized in building the new one." 

It is enough for us to know that protein is required 
and that some feed substances contain more of it 
than others. 

Bulletin 164 of the Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion at Berkeley goes into the composition of vari- 
ous feedstuffs very carefully, and should be in the 
hands of every feeder of poultry. I quote from it 
the nutritive ratios of a few of the most common 
feeds : 

Wheat, shrunken 1 :6.5 or 1 :4.6 

Wheat, plump 1 :6.9 

Oats 1:6.2 

Barley 1 :7.7 

Beans, dried 1 :2.9 

Corn, Indian 1 :8.5 

Corn, Kaffir 1 :10.3 



84 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

Linseed meal 1 :2.5 

Alfalfa, green 1 :2.3 

Alfalfa, hay 1 :3.3 

Cabbage 1 :5.1 

Beet, mangel 1 :5.1 

Bran 1 :3.4 

Corn meal 1 :11.5 

Middlings 1 :5.1 

Beef scrap 1 :0.3 to 1 :1.1 

A narrow nutritive ratio is one in which the pro- 
portion of protein is large. A wide nutritive ratio is 
one which contains a larger proportion of carbohy- 
drates. In California a nutritive ratio of 1 :4.5 or 
1 :5 is preferred to the wider ratio of 1 :6 generally 
prescribed in the East. 

The Balanced Ration 

Far easier to understand is the classification of 
foodstuffs into (1) grains, (2) animal food, and (3) 
green food. A combination of these three kinds of 
feed in the proportion which has been found best for 
maintaining the health of the fowl is called a bal- 
anced ration. Technically, a balanced ration is a 
combination of the food elements, carbohydrates, 
protein and crude fiber in a given proportion. Prac- 
tically, no one needs to understand these chemical 
terms in order to be a good feeder. A grain ration 
of wheat and corn at night, with a dish of dry bran 
to add bulk, plenty of green feed, and fresh meat 
twice a week to take the place of the bugs and worms 
the fowl would find on free range, makes a perfectly 
balanced ration. It is only because a slightly differ- 
ent mixture may better suit the needs of growing 
stock or force a few more eggs from the laying hen, 
or because cheaper foodstuffs will answer the same 
purpose that we need to devise different mixtures. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 85 

Variety is the main object and purpose of all ra- 
tions. The hen will very likely pick through the 
mash that is set before her and select the ingredients 
she likes best, but at least she has been able to get 
them. It would probably be just as well to set hop- 
pers containing bran, corn meal, beef scrap, etc., each 
by itself, so that the hen may balance her ration to 
suit herself, but this is not quite as convenient as 
mixing them, and feeders still have an idea they can 
make Biddy eat what they please and not what she 
pleases. 

Grains 

Wheat is the best single grain and is so nearly a 
balanced ration in itself that fowls will thrive on a 
diet of wheat alone for a long time. Its nutritive 
ratio of 1 :6.5 or less brings it quite near the nutritive 
ratio of 1:5, which is considered best for fowls in 
California, and its lack of husk renders it very pal- 
atable to the fowl. The only objection to wheat is 
its cost, which is so great that other grains must be 
used with it. 

Corn is used more than wheat in the East, but is 
too heating for this climate save when used in great 
moderation or for young or market stock. A little 
corn may be part of the grain ration for the Mediter- 
ranean breeds, but it is better left out of the ration 
of the heavy breeds. Corn meal is used in all mashes 
in winter. 

Oats, with a nutritive ratio of 1 :6.2, are nearer the 
perfect feed than wheat in theory, and not as fatten- 
ing, but in practice the hulls are an objection. It is 
difficult on this coast too to get the large white oats 
which are recommended by English feeders, and 
those we do get are best fed sprouted. Rolled and 



86 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

steel cut oats are the best of feeds for young chicks 
and turkeys. 

Barley is the one grain that is cheap in California 
and can well be used as the larger part of the grain 
ration. Fowls are not fond of it dry, but the whole 
grain soaked twelve hours and drained till it is nearly 
dry, or about twenty-four hours, and mixed with a 
small amount of wheat and whole corn, makes an 
excellent grain ration for Leghorns. Rolled barley 
may be steamed or soaked to make it palatable. 
Ground barley is largely used in mashes. Its nutri- 
tive ratio is 1 :8.1, a little narrower than that of 
rolled barley and a little wider than that of whole 
barley. Barley meal is more expensive and contains 
more protein. It is very good in a ration for chicks. 

Bran and middlings are by-products from the mill- 
ing of flour and are an important part of mash ra- 
tions all over the country. Bran has a higher nutri- 
tive ratio than wheat. Middlings contain consider- 
ably more digestible carbohydrates than bran, and 
hence are more fattening. Bran is valuable, not only 
for its high protein content, but because it adds bulk 
to the ration. 

Stale bread can sometimes be had quite cheaply 
from bakeries and restaurants and is an excellent 
food. Its nutritive ratio is about the same as that 
of wheat. It is most satisfactory when used in the 
moist mash. Bread that has commenced to mold 
should never be used. No drying or heating can 
destroy the mold spores, and these are very injurious 
to fowls of all ages. 

Vegetable Protein 

Peas and beans contains a great deal of protein 
and are excellent for fowls when they can be bought 
cheaply and prepared in such a way that they are 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 87 

palatable. Peanut meal and the four oil cake meals, 
linseed oil cake meal, cocoanut oil cake meal, cotton 
seed meal and soy bean meal, are all very rich in 
protein and are used in the dry mash in addition to 
the animal food when a forcing ration is required 
and at molting time, but they are too expensive to 
be used in large quantities and are so rich in oil 
that they affect the bowels unless used with great 
care. 

Animal Foods 

Fresh meat is the best of all animal foods. Some- 
times it can be had in the form of green cut bone 
or pluck cheaply enough to supply all the animal 
part of the ration, but usually this is impossible, 
and feeders are forced to depend on beef -scrap, one 
of the by-products of the big meat packing estab- 
lishments, and fish scrap. Beef scrap contains a 
very large amount of protein and is therefore gen- 
erally used in the mash to balance the grain part of 
the ration. Fish scrap has recently come into use 
as a substitute for beef scrap and is used with it in 
the mash, but does not altogether take its place. 

Much of the beef scrap on the market is not fresh. 
The only way to find out whether it is fresh or not 
is to pour boiling water over it. If it gives out a 
good meaty odor, it is good. 

Milk, in the form of skim milk, clabbered milk or 
cottage cheese, is the best animal food there is for 
poultry. The clabbered milk is particularly good 
for young chicks and is said to prevent the multi- 
plication of bacteria in their intestines. Where 
enough milk can be had, and enough is all the fowls 
will eat, no other animal food is needed. 

Green Feed 
The importance of green feed can hardly be over- 



88 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

estimated. It is not primarily an egg producer, as 
animal food is, but it is so essential to the health 
of the fowls that there can be no steady production 
without it. 

Green feed is equally important to growing chicks 
and contains mineral salts that are very essential 
to growth and well-being. 

Probably alfalfa, containing as it does 4.94 per 
cent crude protein, which is nearly one-fourth the 
solid matter which composes it, is the best green 
feed for poultry. On most large poultry plants a 
patch of alfalfa is grown and cut up in the clover 
cutter for the daily noon meal of the fowls. Where 
other greens are needed, cabbage, kale, Swiss chard, 
collards, turnips, mustard and lawn clippings may 
all be utilized. Rape is excellent for growing in 
poultry pens. Kale requires less water than other 
greens and may be kept growing the year round. 
Lettuce is the best green feed for baby chicks. 

Sprouting Oats 

When a sufficient quantity of other greens can- 
not be had, sprouted oats are a very good substi- 
tute, but they must not be allowed to grow too long 
unless they can be cut fine. The fowls relish them 
most when the sprouts are from a quarter to a half 
inch in length. 

To sprout oats, soak them twenty-four hours, 
then spread on the bottom of a box which has cracks 
enough for drainage. Spread a burlap sack over 
the oats and sprinkle sack and oats often enough to 
keep them moist. If they can be put in a rather 
dark place they will sprout more quickly. In four 
or five days they are ready to feed. By keeping sev- 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 89 

eral boxes going a supply of succulent greens may 
he had. 

Barley can be sprouted in the same way. 

Egg Makers 

Condimental foods, e^^ foods, e^^ makers, and 
other preparations advertised to increase eg^ pro- 
duction are at the best of doubtful value and often 
positively injurious. These foods are all stimu- 
lants, and a hen, while she may lay more eggs for 
a time under their influence, will sooner or later 
suffer from the reaction which follows every sort of 
artificial stimulation. Feed a well-balanced ration, 
with plenty of green feed at all times and fresh 
meat when it can be had conveniently; plan for 
variety in the diet; give a hot moist mash contain- 
ing vegetables and cut up greens on cold mornings 
or evenings. Above all, see that your hens have 
exercise. This is the best eg^ maker known. 

Grit and Shell 

Shell is very necesary to the laying hen, for, while 
she gets some lime in her food, she does not get 
enough to make good, strong e^^ shells. Oyster 
shell is better than clam shells for this purpose and 
should be kept before laying hens at all times. It 
is also necessary for growing chicks unless they 
have access to gravel. 

Grit is called "the hen's teeth," and should be 
kept before all ages of fowls. If the soil contains 
a good many little stones, they may not eat much 
grit, but it is safer to keep it where they can get 
it. The fowl's gizzard is a powerful grinding ap- 
paratus, but it needs something sharp to help pul- 
verize the food, and grit is cheap. Especially im- 
portant is a good supply of grit for young turkeys, 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

for their digestion is more delicate than that of 
chickens. 

FEEDING BABY CHICKS 

The feeding of baby chicks is not at all the diffi- 
cult, complicated matter some have supposed it to 
be. Given mature, healthy parent stock and a 
chick well hatched and brooded in warm, clean quar- 
ters, and your chick will grow on any kind of suit- 
able food. The chick cared for by Mother Biddy 
on range picks up, what? Little seeds, bits of weed 
and grass, a bug now and then, and a few grains of 
sand if it needs them. Imitate Nature in your feed- 
ing. Give little seeds and grains, suitable to the size 
of the chick, a little animal food, some green when 
it is old enough for it, and your chick will grow, if 
only other conditions are right. 

Principles are always better than rules to go by, 
and I think we may lay down as the fundamental 
principles of chick feeding the following: 

1 The chick is not ready to eat for the first day 
or two of its life. The yolk of the egg which it took 
into its abdomen the day it was hatched will suffice 
for forty-eight hours or longer, and that is all the 
food it needs. 

2. The first feed should be dry and very simple. 

3. Feeding should be progressive. Food which 
is sufficient for the first week is not enough for the 
second. Make the ration richer and more varied 
after the first week. 

4. Chicks must have protein for building tissues 
and making feathers and ash for bones. The best 
and cheapest protein for chicks is found in milk — 
skim milk, buttermilk, clabbered milk or dried milk. 
If they have all the milk they want they need noth- 
ing else. Bone meal is the best bone maker. See 
that it is in the mash after the first week. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 91 

The Nursery Feed 

Bread and hard boiled eg^ has been the time- 
honored ''first feed" for baby chicks, and it does no 
harm, but it is not necessary. Chicks do exactly as 
well when started on rolled oats or steel cut oats and 
cracked wheat. One of the most successful poul- 
trymen I know starts his chicks on a simple mixture 
of steel cut oats and cracked wheat.^ At the Cali- 
fornia Experiment Station the first two days a 
grain mixture of fine cracked wheat, fine cracked 
corn and steel cut oats is given. The Oregon Sta- 
tion recommends rolled oats as the "first feed," and 
this has been my own standby. I give rolled oats 
scattered over the sand the first day, and steel cut 
oats or commercial chick feed the second. By the 
third day the chicks have a dish of bran to peck at, 
and this by the end of the first week is changed to 
the Cornell mash. A hard-boiled egg, chopped with 
bread crumbs, is "tasty," if given occasionally, and 
I have never seen any harm from it, but some poul- 
trymen claim that it is constipating. Bread and 
milk is easier to prepare, and it does make them 
grow ! 

Sample Rations 

California Method. — At the University of Cali- 
fornia farm at Davis nothing but grain is given the 
first five days. Beginning with the sixth day a dry 
mash of two parts bran, two parts shorts, one part 
corn meal or barley meal, two parts beef scrap, one 
part ground bone (fine) and three- tenths part 
powdered charcoal by weight is fed at ten o'clock. 
For the next two weeks the chicks get this dry mash 
at ten o'clock, and the grain mixture scattered in 
deep litter early in the morning and at two o'clock 



92 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

in the afternoon. The mash is left before them 
for only a short time at first, but as they develop it 
is left longer, and by the time they are eight or ten 
weeks old they have access to it at all times. 

Cornell Mash. — At Cornell the first five days 
the chicks are given the follov^ing mixture, moist- 
ened with sour skimmed milk, five times a day: 
Eight pounds rolled oats, eight pounds bread 
crumbs or cracker waste, two pounds sifted beef 
scrap, one pound bone meal. The grain mixture, 
three pounds cracked wheat, two pounds cracked 
corn, one pound steel cut oats, is kept before them in 
a little tray. A little of the following dry mash, 
which after the fifth day is always before them in 
a hopper, is mixed with the grain in this tray: 
Three pounds bran, three pounds corn meal, three 
pounds middlings, three pounds beef scrap, one 
pound bone meal. From five days to two weeks 
they have the grain mixture in litter twice a day, 
the moist mash of the first five days three times 
a day, and the dry mash ahvays before them. From 
two to four weeks the moist mash is given but twice 
a day and from four to six weeks but once a day. 
After four weeks the grain ration is changed to 
three pounds whole wheat, two pounds cracked corn, 
one pound hulled oats. Grit, charcoal, shell and 
bone are always before them and green feed is given 
freely scattered over the moist mash or separately. 

Maine Ration. — At the Maine Station several 
satisfactory rations have been used, the one best 
liked being as follows : First two days, hard-boiled 
eggs mixed with six times their bulk of rolled oats. 
From the third day on the rolled oats and egg mix- 
ture is fed at nine o'clock and at half past four or 
five o'clock. Early in the morning and at half past 
twelve they have the following grain mixture, fed 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 93 

in litter: Fifteen parts cracked wheat, ten parts 
steel cut oats, fifteen parts fine screened cracked 
corn, three parts fine cracked peas, two parts broken 
rice, five parts chick grit, two parts fine charcoal. 
After the chicks are three weeks' old the rolled oats 
and egg is gradually displaced by the following 
mash, which is fed moist: Two parts wheat bran, 
four parts cornmeal, two parts low-grade flour, one 
part linseed meal, two parts beef scrap. 

There is no question I think that a moist mash is 
more forcing than a dry one, especially if it is mixed 
with sour milk, but it is a good deal more trouble, 
and most poultrymen do not consider it worth while. 

The Missouri Way. — At the Missouri Station a 
little clover chaff, shredded alfalfa or fine-cut straw 
is sprinkled over the floor of the brooder before 
the chicks are placed in it. A fountain of sour milk 
or buttermilk is provided the first half of the day, 
and longer if it is available. If not, water is given 
the chicks in the afternoon. The first feed is a 
mixture of two-thirds rolled oats and one-third 
wheat bran, with a small amount of charcoal. This 
is fed on a clean board or paper four or five times 
a day. After the fourth day commercial chick feed 
is added to the mixture, a little at first and the 
amount gradually increased till the grain is all chick 
feed. Rolled oats and bran are still fed morning, 
noon and night, and the chick feed is thrown into 
the litter between meals. 

When the chicks are five days old a dry mash is 
kept before them. It consists of two parts wheat 
bran, one part corn meal, one part shorts, one-half 
part rolled oats or oatmeal. To every hundred 
pounds of the above mixture is added a handful of 
charcoal, a handful of bone meal, and a half pound 
of fine table salt. 



94 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

After the chicks are two weeks old a small quan- 
tity of dry beef scrap is added to the mixture and 
this is gradually increased till the sixth week, when 
the dry mash mixture consists of two parts bran, 
one part shorts, one part com meal and one-half 
part high-grade dry beef scrap. If the chicks are 
on range, where they can find a liberal supply of 
bugs and worms, or if the mash is mixed \\ath sour 
milk or buttermilk, the beef scrap is not needed. 
Onions chopped fine and fed either separately or in 
the moist mash are recommended for occasional 
feeding to keep the chicks in good condition. 

At this time (six weeks), the commercial chick 
feed is exchanged for a mixture of cracked corn, 
wheat and Kafir corn. If the Kafir corn cannot be 
had conveniently, a mixture of equal parts of 
cracked corn and whole wheat will suffice. WTien 
the chicks are on range this is fed in hoppers where 
the chicks have access to it at any time. 

Purdue Ration. — All the Purdue rations are ex- 
tremely simple. That for baby chicks is as follows : 

Grain : 

10 pounds cracked corn (sifted). 
10 pounds cracked wheat. 
10 pounds steel cut oats. 

Dry Mash : 

10 pounds bran. 
10 pounds shorts. 
5 pounds corn meal. 
5 pounds meat scraps. 
2V2 pounds charcoal. 
Plenty of sour milk. 
The grain is given in litter as soon as the chicks 
are ready to eat. The mash is not set before them 
till they are from five to seven days old, and it is 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 95 

not left before them all the time till they are sev- 
eral weeks old. 

Iowa Ration. — The following ration is used suc- 
cessfully at the Iowa Experiment Station: 
Cracked grains: 
First eight weeks — 

Cracked corn, 2 parts. 

Cracked wheat, 1 part. 

Steel cut oats, 1 part. 
After eighth week — 

Coarsely cracked corn, 2 parts. 

Wheat, 1 part. 

Oats, 1 part. 
Ground feed: 

First two weeks — 

Stale bread, 3 parts. 

Oat meal, 3 parts. 

Eggs, 4 parts. 

Bran, l^ parts. 

Corn meal, II/2 parts. 

Ground bone, I/2 part. 
After second week — 

Corn meal, 3 parts. 

Middlings or shorts, 2 parts. 

Bran, 1 part. 

Beef scrap, 1 part. 

Ground oats, 1 part. 

Ground bone, 14 part. 

Salt, 1-10 part. 
The ground feed is moistened with sour milk as 
at Cornell, and the beef scrap or meat meal is fed 
in hoppers. The grain is fed twice daily in litter 
from one to six inches deep. 

Continuous Feeding 

The question is often asked by the beginner, "Shall 



96 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

I keep feed before my chicks all the time or feed 
them only at certain times?" Where a moist mash 
is given it is necessary, of course, that it be given 
regularly at stated times and that the chicks' crops 
be not already full when it is given, but the easiest 
and safest method for a beginner is to keep the feed 
always before the chicks, the dry mash in hoppers, 
and the grain in the litter, so that the chicks may 
be kept busy scratching. Where this method is fol- 
lowed there is no reason why a moist mash should 
not be given three times a day, care being taken 
to feed only what the chicks will clean up in a few 
minutes. 

There is little danger of overfeeding by the con- 
tinuous method, and the weaker chick has then the 
same chance as the stronger. 

All grain should be fed in deep litter so that the 
chicks may have the exercise of scratching for it. 
Leg weakness and other troubles are thus avoided. 
All food and dishes should be clean. Never leave 
wet mash standing. It soon sours and is then unfit 
for food. Green feed should be fed at least once 
a day after the first week. Chopped lettuce is best 
at first. After a week, or whenever the chicks are 
strong enough to tear it to pieces, a whole head of 
lettuce may be given at once. Later Swiss chard or 
beet leaves will do, but there is no green the little 
chick likes so well as lettuce. Chicks that are on 
range will soon find their own green feed, and they 
are lucky if they have an alfalfa patch to run on. 

FEEDING LAYING HENS 

Two objects must be kept in view in feeding lay- 
ing hens: (1) maintenance of bodily health and 
vigor, (2) egg production. 

Maintenance of health is the first consideration, 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 97 

for without health egg production must inevitably 
cease. Your prolific layer is not the pale-combed 
hen that mopes in a corner or seeks the roost an 
hour before sundown. She is the first hen out in 
the morning and the last one in at night. She is 
first at the feeding trough and has no scruples about 
snatching any choice morsel from the beaks of the 
other hens. She is the hen with the bright, red 
comb and alert eye, the hen that scratches her toe- 
nails off. 

Before a hen can begin to produce eggs, she must 
have consumed (1) all the food she needs to main- 
tain bodily functions and repair waste, and (2) 
enough more to put some surplus fat on her body. 
It is quite plain, therefore, that she must be a good 
eater. 

Experiments at Cornell, where a large number 
of Barred Rocks were killed and examined, showed 
that the fattest hens invariably had eggs nearly 
ready to lay in their bodies, while the leanest hens 
were dormant. 'The best explanation of the fact 
that the hen must have fat in her body to lay well," 
says Professor Rice, **is that the egg is developed 
in the ovary in the form of little ovules. There are 
hundreds of these little ovules, so small that we 
perhaps cannot see some of them with the naked 
eye. These ovules form in follicles, and when ripe 
these burst and let the yolk or ovule fall into the 
oviduct and then pass down the oviduct where the 
white of the egg is formed about the yolk. A chem- 
ical analysis of these eggs shows that sixty-four per 
cent of the dry matter of the yolk of the egg is fat, 
and that it is the only fat in the eggy except a small 
fraction, the white of the egg being practically pure 
albumen, the shell being mineral matter. The very 
first part of the egg to be developed, therefore, must 



98 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

contain nearly half fat. How then can the hen 
start to develop the first part of the egg unless it 
has surplus fat in its body? And surplus fat is 
merely stored-up energy. We must have hens in 
reasonably fat condition before they w^ill do their 
very best laying." 

Liberal feeding is a necessity. Give the hen all 
she needs to keep her in perfect physical condition, 
and then enough more to put some fat on her body, 
but do not go to the other extreme and feed her till 
she is too fat to lay. This horn of the dilemma is a 
little worse than the other, for a lean hen can be 
fattened, but it is very hard to reduce an overf at hen. 

The two things which most tend to make a hen 
overf at are (1) a ration too rich in fats and carbo- 
hydrates, (2) lack of exercise. She must have 
plenty of feed, but it must not be fattening feed, 
and she must be made to work for it. A narrow 
ration is best for breeds that take on fat too easily. 
Corn and cornmeal should be avoided except in cold, 
rainy weather, or balanced by a very liberal meat 
ration. Tests at the Massachusetts Experiment Sta- 
tion show that fat in the ration helps to digest the 
protein in beef scrap and other animal foods. 

Things to Consider 

"Things to consider when mixing a laying ration, 
says Bulletin 10 of Purdue University," are : 

1. There is no best ration. It is not the number 
of pounds of feed consumed that controls results, but 
the quantity of digestible food material in the 
ration. There are plenty of good rations, and it 
makes no difference what they are made of, if they 
will produce results. 

2. Hens should be fed what they like. 

3. Hens know best how much to eat, but the 





jj ^, aoNc MEau jY r cK 



riG. 32 — "FIRST feed'-" for baby chicks, two parts rolled oatSj one 

PART BRAX WITH A LITTLE BOXE MEAL. GRIT AND 
CHARCOAL MIXED IN 




FIG. 33 HOME MADE TROUGH AXD FOUXTAIXS 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 99 

feeder should know in what proportion to mix the 
feeds in the ration. Give a hen all she wants of a 
ration made up of the proper proportion of diif erent 
feeds. 

4. A ration should contain a variety of feeds. 

5. The ration must be cheap. 

6. Fowls need grain, meat food, mill feeds, green 
food, grit, shell and water. 

7. Quality and not quantity is important. 

8. Exercise is absolutely necessary. 

9. The conditions under which the flock is kept 
will influence any ration; for example, confined 
fowls need more green food and meat food than do 
farm fowls. 

Sample Rations 

The following rations, which are used at and 
recommended by various state experiment stations, 
will give a good general idea of what a ration 
should be: 
Purdue Experiment Station. — Grain: 
10 pounds corn. 
10 pounds wheat. 
5 pounds oats. 
Dry mash : 

5 pounds bran. 
5 pounds shorts. 
31/^ pounds meat scraps. 
The mixed grain is fed in deep litter lightly in 
the morning, and all the fowls will eat in the even- 
ing. The dry mash is kept in a hopper open before 
such fowls as Leghorns at all times. For heavier 
breeds the hopper is not opened before noon, because 
of their tendency to eat too much and thereby cause 
digestive troubles. In order to keep the ration 
properly balanced, the 13 1/2 pounds of dry mash 



100 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

should be consumed in the same length of time as 
the 25 pounds of grain. 

Missouri Experiment Station. — Grain Mixture 
— In winter the scratch feed is composed of Yz 
coarsely cracked corn and Yz wheat. In spring and 
fall it consists of equal parts cracked corn and 
wheat. In summer it is changed to 2 parts wheat 
and 1 of cracked corn. 

Dry Mash — When ground oats are to be had a 
hopper of this feed and nothing else is kept before 
the fowls. When oats cannot be had the mixture 
consists of 2 parts bran, 1 part cornmeal and 1 part 
shorts. Sour milk or buttermilk is kept before 
them when it is available. When milk is not given 
10 pounds of beef scrap is mixed with each 100 
pounds of ground oats. 

Between one and three o'clock each day the hens 
are given a little of this mash moistened with but- 
termilk. Three times a week they have sprouted 
oats. Sometimes cabbage, beets or turnips, chopped 
fine, are substituted for the oats. 

New Jersey Experiment Station. — Grain Mix- 
ture: Morning, 1 part wheat, 1 part clipped oats. 
Evening, 2 parts cracked corn, 1 part wheat, 1 part 
clipped oats, 1 part buckwheat 

Dry mash : 

200 pounds wheat bran. 

200 pounds middlings. 

200 pounds ground oats. 

100 pounds corn meal. 

100 pounds gluten meal. 

100 pounds to 200 pounds beef scrap. 

100 pounds short cut alfalfa. 

Gluten meal is a by-product of the milling of 
wheat which is quite extensively used in the east and 
is rich in protein. It is not known in California. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 101 

Maine Experiment Station. — The feeding of the 
pullets after they are brought in from range the first 
of September is progressive. 

The first month in the laying house they receive: 
Grain mixture : 

Morning, cracked corn. 
Evening, 2 parts wheat, 2 parts oats. 
Dry mash : 

300 pounds bran. 
100 pounds corn meal. 
100 pounds low^ grade flour. 
100 pounds beef scrap. 
The second month in the laying house the scratch 
mixture remains the same, but the dry mash is 
changed to : 

200 pounds bran. 
100 pounds corn meal. 
100 pounds low grade flour. 
100 pounds gluten meal. 
100 pounds beef scrap. 
The third month 50 pounds of linseed meal is 
added to the above; the fourth month the linseed 
meal is omitted, and so on. The experts at the sta- 
tion find that by adding linseed meal only every other 
month they keep the pullets from moulting in the 
fall and maintain a higher degree of health. 

Ontario Experiment Station. — Summer ration 
for yarded fowls: Dry mash, in hoppers; for old 
hens, wheat bran ; for pullets, equal parts bran, low 
grade flour and barley chop or meal. Grain fed 
twice a day, wheat in the morning and wheat and 
barley or corn in the evening, corn being used only 
when very cheap. 

Winter ration: Dry mash as above. Morning 
feed, whole wheat from six to eight inches deep in 
litter; about noon, a little more wheat and whole 



102 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

mangels or clover hay; about 3:30 p. m., wet mash 
of boiled vegetables, waste bread and occasionally 
kitchen scraps thickened with the same meals used in 
the dry mash, about 10 per cent beef scrap or ani- 
mal meal added, except when green cut bone is given 
as a separate feed; just before dark all the whole 
corn the birds will eat. 

West Virginia Experiment Station. — Dry 
mash: 

Corn meal 314 parts by weight 

Bran 5V2 parts by weight 

Middlings 3 parts by weight 

Oil meal 1 part by weight 

Beef scrap 2i/^ parts by weight 

Grain, whole corn and wheat in equal parts. 
Kansas Experiment Station. — Dry mash : 

Shorts (middlings) 6 parts by weight 

Bran 3 parts by weight 

Corn meal 6 parts by weight 

Beef scrap 5 parts by weight 

Alfalfa meal 1 part by weight 

Grain mixture, 2 parts wheat, 2 parts corn, 1 part 
oats. 

Used in the proportions by weight of 21 pounds 
of mash to 25 pounds of grain, the ration has a nutri- 
tive ratio of 1 : 4, a very forcing ration. 

Cornell Laying Ration. — Grain mixture : 
Winter — 60 pounds corn, 60 pounds wheat, 30 
pounds oats, 30 pounds buckwheat. 

Summer — 60 pounds wheat, 60 pounds corn, 30 
pounds oats. 

Dry mash, summer and winter : 

60 pounds corn meal, 60 pounds wheat middlings, 

30 pounds wheat bran, 10 pounds alfalfa meal, 10 

pounds oil meal, 50 pounds beef scrap, 1 pound salt. 

California Experiment Station. — In Bulletin 



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164 half a dozen dry mash formulas are given of 
which the following is typically Calif ornian : 

Bran 6 quarts or 3 pounds 

Corn meal 1 quart or 1.5 pounds 

Barley meal 2 quarts or 2.2 pounds 

Alfalfa meal 1 quart or 0.5 pounds 

Soy bean meal 1 quart or 1.3 pounds 

Beef scrap 1 quart or 1.5 pounds 

Coarse bone meal. . . 0.5 quart or 1.0 pound 
This formula is calculated for 100 hens one day 
and is intended to be used with 9 to 12 pounds of 
grain and some green feed. 

A Southern California Ration. — The following 
formula has been successfully used by a large num- 
ber of Southern California poultrymen. It is cal- 
culated for a ton (or about a ton) of mash : 
300 pounds bran. 
300 pounds shorts or middlings. 
100 pounds feed meal (coarse corn meal). 
200 pounds Kaffir meal. 
150 pounds beef scrap. 
150 pounds fish scrap or whale meat. 
70 pounds fine ground bone. 
100 pounds alfalfa meal. 
400 pounds ground barley. 
10 pounds salt. 
With this is used, for Leghorns, a scratch feed con- 
sisting of 3 parts whole barley (soaked 12 hours and 
drained 24 hours) and 2 parts wheat, with a little 
whole corn mixed in. 

Methods of Feeding 

There are almost as many methods of feeding as 
there are feeders. According to that most generally 
followed, a light grain feed is scattered in deep litter 
in the morning, and a heavier grain feed given at 



104 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

night. The dry mash is kept before the hens in 
hoppers, so that they may help themselves at any 
time. At noon cut alfalfa or some other green feed 
is given. 

Some feeders give no grain at all in the morning, 
but a very heavy feed at night, which will keep the 
fowls busy scratching the next day. 

The dry mash is more generally used than the wet 
mash because it is more convenient, but many feeders 
still use the wet mash occasionally. Some keep the 
dry mash before the fowls in hoppers and give a wet 
mash in addition either in the morning or at noon. 
When a wet mash is used care should be taken to 
give no more than the fowls will eat up clean in a 
few minutes. Two advantages of the wet mash are 
(1) that table scraps, refuse vegetables and stale 
bread may be used in it more readily than in any 
other way, (2) that it is more appetizing and tempts 
the fowls to eat more than they would of the dry 
mash alone. 

Tom Barron, the English breeder of White Leg- 
horns, whose hens have distanced all competitors at 
the egg-laying contests at Storrs, Connecticut, and 
Mountain Grove, Missouri, uses a combination of the 
wet and dry mash methods. 

In the early morning a mixture of a variety of 
grains is fed in litter, consisting of oats, wheat, 
cracked Indian corn, a little coarse wheat, a few split 
peas and a small quantity of dari or durra. Before 
them is always a hopper in which is a mixture of one 
part ground oats and three parts bran. 

At noon a small supply of the grains is again 
given, merely to keep them employed. In the after- 
noon a wet mash is provided, composed of about one- 
third bran, one-quarter thirds or middlings, one- 
quarter biscuit meal, one-eighth meat meal — fish 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 105 

meal or granulated meal — and one-eighth clover or 
alfalfa meal. The thirds are sometimes changed for 
ground oats. In the water with which this is mixed 
a few bucketfuls of ground oats have been steamed, 
these being used in the mash, which is made crumbly. 
The birds are fed in troughs, as much as they will 
eat. 

It is a good plan to use cooked vegetables as the 
foundation of the wet mash and to thicken the liquid 
in which they are boiled with stale bread and the 
ground grains which compose the dry mash. Potato 
skins and all kinds of refuse vegetables may be used 
to advantage in this way. 

Effect of Feeds on the Egg 

Experiments at the Oregon Station (Bulletin 157) 
have proved that it is possible to feed both color and 
flavor into the eg^. 

Kale and alfalfa give a good deep yellow color to 
the yolk. Sugar beets fed instead of alfalfa make 
a pale yolk. Lack of color in the yolk is an almost 
sure indication that the hens are not getting enough 
green. 

Heavy feeding of onions, beef scrap or fish will 
flavor the egg. Soft shells are usually due to lack 
of lime. Give more oyster shell when you find your 
hens laying soft shelled eggs. 

My own experience in all these particulars is that 
some hens lay better colored eggs and eggs with 
thicker shells than other hens will lay on exactly the 
same ration. 

Cost of a Dozen Eggs 

Investigation of the cost of producing eggs in vari- 
ous parts of the country have shown that a dozen 
eggs cost the producer anywhere from six to eight 



106 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

cents on farms of the Middle West, where the pro- 
ducer raises all his feed, to twenty-one cents on com- 
mercial egg ranches where all the feed is bought. 

Every egg producer should know what it costs him 
to produce a dozen eggs, and, if he is not making a 
profit, he should manage in some way to reduce the 
cost. This may be done (1) by raising a larger part 
of the feed himself, (2) by feeding cheaper feeds, 
(3) by buying feed wholesale instead of at retail, as 
many small poultrymen do, (4) by avoiding waste 
in every possible way, (5) by giving his fowls more 
green range. 

FEEDING MARKET POULTRY 

No chicken of any age should be marketed until it 
has been confined two weeks and fed a fattening 
ration. Well fattened poultry brings a higher price 
and sells more readily. 

Rations for Broilers 

Cockerels which are to be marketed as broilers 
should be separated from the pullets as soon as the 
sexes can be distinguished, which is at the age of 
from one to two months, according to breed. They 
need a more fattening ration than is good for pullets 
and may be quite closely confined, provided their 
quarters are kept clean. 

Fattening Rations 

A recent government bulletin on "The Commercial 
Fattening of Poultry" gives these three rations found 
most satisfactory in a series of experiments extend- 
ing over several years: 

No. 1 — 3 parts corn meal. 

2 parts low grade flour. 
1 part shorts. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 107 

No. 2 — 3 parts corn meal. 

2 parts low grade flour. 
No. 3 — 5 parts corn meal. 

3 parts low grade flour. 
1 part shorts. 

5 per cent tallow. 
All are mixed with thick buttermilk, except No. 
3, in which tallow takes its place. 

The Cornell fattening ration consists of : 
30 pounds beef scrap. 
100 pounds corn meal. 
100 pounds oat flour. 
100 pounds ground buckwheat. 
This is mixed with sour milk. 
At the Missouri Experiment Station feeding ex- 
periments have shown that (1) whole grain does not 
fatten chickens, (2) it is cheaper to feed the grain 
finely ground, and (3) that the best grains can be 
had by feeding birds finely ground feeds when con- 
fined in crates. The following ration proved most 
satisfactory : 

24 parts white bolted corn meal. 
6 parts low grade flour. 

1 part each of oatmeal, pea meal, buckwheat 
middlings and wheat middlings. 
The flesh of the birds fed on this ration was 
creamy white in color, the fat distributed over the 
body, and the entrails were encased with fat. 

At Purdue University the fattening ration con- 
sists of: 

2 pounds corn meal. 
1 pound shorts. 
1 pound ground oats. 
8 pounds buttermilk. 
Professor Dryden of Oregon Agricultural College 
recently said in regard to fattening rations : 



108 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

"There are different rations that can be fed suc- 
cessfully. In some districts corn is the main item, 
and in others oats, barley, or other grain. The price 
of grain will govern the ration fed largely. 

"There is no better fattening food, probably, than 
good plump oats fine-ground. Barley, ground up 
fine, is also good as part of the ration. A good ration 
would be ground oats, barley and middlings in equal 
parts and a little bran mixed with buttermilk or sour 
mJlk." 

"If one cannot get milk it will be necessary to feed 
some animal meal or beef scrap, or a little blood 
meal. About ten per cent of the weight of the grain 
is the right proportion of blood meal. 

"If corn is as cheap as the other grains, I would 
feed corn liberally. The grain should be mixed with 
about twice as much milk as of ground grain, so that 
it will be very soft and drip from the end of the 
stick. No green food is necessary. 

FEEDING PULLETS ON RANGE 

At the Maine Station, after the cockerels and pul- 
lets are separated, the pullets (and the breeding 
cockerels) are put on range and fed by the hopper 
method. Cracked corn, wheat, beef scrap, cracked 
bone, oyster shell and grit are put in separate hop- 
pers and left where the pullets can help themselves. 
In another hopper is the dry mash, consisting of 1 
part bran, 2 parts corn meal, 1 part middlings and 1 
part beef scrap. This mash is suitable for use when 
the pullets are confined, but the grain should be fed 
in deep litter. 

At the Missouri Station the pullets are fed a grain 
ration consisting of equal parts of cracked com and 
wheat. The dry mash consists of equal parts of corn 
meal, bran and shorts. If sour milk or buttermilk 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 109 

is desirable, no beef scrap is needed. If not, 10 
pounds of beef scrap is added to every 100 pounds of 
the mash. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon a feeding of 
the same mash moistened with sour milk is given, 
all the birds will clean up in twenty or thirty min- 
utes. 

It is very important that the pullets which are to 
be the layers of the following winter be fed a whole- 
some, nourishing ration, and have free range if pos- 
sible. The egg organs cannot develop properly with- 
out exercise, and the best exercise is that found on 
free range. 

Leghorn pullets which have been properly fed and 
cared for should begin laying at from five to six 
months of age. Pullets of the heavier breeds, Rocks, 
Reds, Wyandottes and Orpingtons, cannot be ex- 
pected to begin before seven or eight months, though 
I have had many Orpingtons that began at six 
months and a few even earlier than that. Anconas 
and other Mediterranean breeds begin, like the Leg- 
horns, at six months or a little before. 

FEEDING MOLTING HENS 

Opinions differ in regard to the proper feeding of 
molting hens, but the best practice makes little 
change in the diet at this time. A little richer and 
more stimulating ration is fed than at other times, 
and a little more generous supply of food is given, 
for the molting hen is manufacturing feathers and 
must have material to work with. 

No change need be made while the birds are losing 
their feathers. Many hens lay right along during 
this period, and they should be allowed to lay as long 
as they will. When the new plumage begins to grow 
is a time of special strain, a time when protein and 
oil are needed. Give the hen that is making feath- 



110 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

ers a little corn and sunflower seed in the scratch 
grain, and add % part linseed meal to the mash. A 
moist mash fed once a day is especially beneficial 
during this period, and if a little fresh meat is 
cooked in this, so much the better. A sheep's pluck, 
which can be bought for five cents, cooked and 
chopped , and the soup in which it was cooked thick- 
ened with bran and middlings, makes a good break- 
fast for these molting hens, and is worth far more 
than it costs. 

Many poultry keepers feed stimulants and tonics 
during the molt, but I have never found it necessary. 
A hen that is not vigorous enough to go through the 
molt in good shape without tonics had better be sent 
to the butcher. 

The molting period is a good time for culling out 
the hens that are lacking in vigor. As a rule the 
older a hen is, and the later she molts, the more 
quickly will she molt. Hens that molt more slowly 
than their contemporaries or that seem weakened or 
depressed may well be eliminated from the flock. 

Overfat hens should, of course, be ''reduced'' be- 
fore they go into the molt. 

The practice of starving the hens in order to force 
an early molt is condemned by nearly all experiment 
stations. After experiments with White Leghorns 
covering several seasons the Cornell Station declared 
that there was nothing whatever to be gained by 
forcing the molt. In the words of the bulletin (No. 
258) : 

"As compared with the fed flocks, the starved hens 
molted slightly earlier and more uniformly ; w^ere in 
somewhat better condition at the end of the molt; 
molted (average) in slightly less time; gained less 
above first weight during molt ; gained slightly more 
in weight during the year ; resumed production some- 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 111 

what more quickly after molt ; laid a few more eggs 
during winter ; were materially retarded in egg pro- 
duction ; produced less eggs after the molt was com- 
pleted; produced eggs at a greater cost per dozen; 
consumed slightly less food during the year; had 
slightly less mortality ; showed slightly more broodi- 
ness, and paid a much smaller profit. 

''The general conclusions were that with the meth- 
ods employed with White Leghorn fowls one, two 
and three years old, it does not pay to 'force a molt' 
by starvation methods and that apparently it is good 
policy to encourage hens, by good care and feeding, 
to lay during late summer and fall, rather than to 
resort to unusual means to stop laying in order to 
induce an early molt, with the hope of increasing pro- 
ductiveness during early winter, a season which is 
naturally unfavorable for egg production. In short, 
it appears wise when hens want to lay to let them 
lay." 

Rules for Feeding 

Three things characterize the feeding of a skilful 
feeder : 

1. Regularity. He does not give two meals to- 
day and three tomorrow, nor does he give a moist 
mash today at noon and tomorrow at night. If he 
has decided that it is wise to let his hens get their 
breakfast from the dry mash hoppers, he holds to 
this rule till he sees good reason for changing it, and 
does not feed breakfast today and none tomorrow. 
Neither does he permit kind-hearted neighbors to 
throw scraps over the fence at any hour of the day. 
He plans his regime according to circumstances, and 
then holds to it. 

2. Punctuality. His fowls get their meals not 
only at the hour when they expect them, but also 



112 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

at the time when they need them. The first thing a 
hen does when she gets off the roost in the morning is 
to look for something to eat. If she finds nothing, 
every hour spent in waiting is time lost from the 
business of the day. The poultry-keeper wiio is not 
disposed to hustle out in the morning by 5:30 or 6 
o'clock must set the table the night before. Throw 
grain in the litter the night before so that Biddy can 
get to work early, and if a moist mash is to be fed 
it can wait until she has scratched awhile. 

3. Variety. It is not enough to feed a balanced 
ration. The ration needs to be changed from time 
to time lest Biddy's appetite lag. Feed a variety of 
grains every day and change the mixture occasion- 
ally. If you have been feeding wheat and barley for 
some time, try wheat and Kaffir corn or wheat and 
oats. If the meat food has been beef scrap, use fish 
scrap for a change, or add soy bean meal. The hen 
appreciates these little concessions to her taste and 
discrimination and will show her appreciation in a 
substantial way. 

4. Plenty. The skilful feeder does not sit down 
to his own evening meal until he is certain his hens 
have had all they want. It may be necessary in 
feeding heavy hens to make the morning meal very 
light or omit it altogether, but at night every hen's 
crop should be full. There is no fixed rule for the 
amount to be fed to a hen in a day or at a meal. 
Hens differ in their needs and in their appetites. 
An Orpington needs considerably more than a But- 
tercup. A laying hen requires more than a hen that 
is not laying. It is a good plan to leave the mash 
hoppers always accessible, unless for some good rea- 
son it is desired to reduce the ration, and to throw 
in deep scratchng litter, either all at once or at dif- 
ferent times during the day, sufficient grain to keep 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



113 



the hens scratching. In general the amount of grain 
fed for a single meal is approximately a quart to a 
dozen hens, but the main thing is to know that the 
fowls' crops are well filled when they go to roost. 




% 



CHAPTER VI. 

Breeding 

THE BREEDING PEN 

The breeding pen may well be called the heart of 
the flock. All else centers about it. When the 
breeding pen is not what it should be everything 
deteriorates — egg production, size, health, whatever 
is most desired in a flock — and in a few years the 
plant is "for sale at a sacrifice." 

The foundation of the breeding pen is vigor. 

Culling 

The selection of breeding stock should begin the 
day the chicks are hatched. The first chicks out of 
the shell are usually the most vigorous. The sturdy, 
bright-eyed babies that crowd round the incubator 
window waiting for their weaker brothers and sisters 
to hatch, or peep out from under Mother Biddy's 
wings before half the eggs are pipped, are the ones 
to mark as possible future breeders. Put the weak, 
late hatched, sunken-eyed, pinched looking chicks by 
themselves where they can have special care and not 
interfere with the growth of the others, and in nine 
cases out of ten you will find as they develop that 
your best chicks are in the first lot. 

Cull again as they feather. The strongest cock- 
erels always feather out first. The slow feathering 
ones should be put by themselves and fed for broilers. 

As the pullets approach maturity cull out again 
those which are largest and strongest for their age. 
Those which lag behind had better go to market with 




FIG. 24 TYPICAL WHITE LEGHORN HEN 





FIG. 25 I'ULLKT OF II Kill VITALITY FKJ. 2G ROSE COMB WHITE 

LEGHORN 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 115 

the surplus cockerels. The pullets which lay ear- 
liest will probably be the best layers. Band these 
early layers and trapnest them if it is not convenient 
to trapnest the whole flock. 

Marks of Vigor 

Selection of individuals for the breeding pen 
should be based on one quality, constitutional vigor. 
Heavy egg production, while it is extremely desirable 
in a breeder, is not of first importance. In fact, 
many high producers break down under the strain 
and are unfit to transmit their fecundity to their off- 
spring. The hen selected as a breeder should be a 
good layer, but she should be something more. She 
must be a good eater or she cannot manufacture eggs 
and at the same time keep up her own vitality. She 
must be absolutely healthy. She must, in short, have 
that indefinable something known as vigor. 

In selecting for vigor, we look first at the shape of 
the fowl. The body of the vigorous cockerel or pul- 
let always has a tendency to fill a parallelogram. 
Such a fowl will have good depth of body, full breast, 
full, well-rounded abdomen and a good broad back. 
It will have glossy, well-developed plumage, promi- 
nent, bright eyes, thick beak, short neck and heavy 
thighs, set wide apart. This last mark of vigor is 
particularly important in the male. Never use a 
male that is not wide between the legs, no matter how 
good he is in other respects. 

The voice is another test of vigor. The rooster 
that crows often and loudly, as well as the hen that is 
always cackling and singing, is the vigorous bird. 
It is said that in some foreign countries it is cus- 
tomary to have crowing contests as a test of fighting 
quality. A weak cockerel very seldom crows. 

The shape and appearance of the head are certain 



116 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

indications of vigor or the lack of it. The strong 
fowl has a fairly large head, well-rounded, with 
bright red, well-shaped comb. The weak fowl is apt 
to have what is called a "crow's head," rather long 
and thin. 

A vigorous bird holds the tail well up. It is also 
active and alert in its manner. Suspect every bird 
that slouches around with its tail down or mopes in 
corners or on the roost. These actions may indicate 
illness, and they always indicate lack of a vigorous 
constitution. The hen that gets off the roost first 
in the morning and goes back to it last at night and 
is always on the move is the hen we want to breed 
from. 

Well colored shanks of the color characteristic of 
the breed are another indication of vigor. Never 
select a breeding bird with pale shanks or shanks 
that are long and thin and cold. 

Probably no one thing is a surer indication of the 
health and stamina of a bird than the appetite. The 
hen that stands back when the other fowls crowd 
around the feeding trough should be watched. Abil- 
ity to consume and assimilate large quantities of 
food is an absolute necessity, whether we want eggs, 
good, fat market birds, or fertility. All birds should 
be examined on the roost at night from time to time, 
and those with little feed in the crop marked as 
probably of doubtful vigor. This is a test that rarely 
fails. 

The Male Bird 

The male bird chosen to head the breeding pen 
should have not only the marks of vigorous consti- 
tution which are common to all fowls, but he should 
have also the marks of a vigorous male, — in other 
words, he should be well sexed, with well developed 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 117 

comb and wattles and protuberant spurs. He should 
also be a bird that showed his sex early. Rev. Edgar 
Warren, a Massachusetts expert, says this is one of 
the surest marks of a good breeder. Watch your 
growing chicks for the first sign of sex, which is 
usually the developing comb, and mark the birds 
that you can first pick out as roosters. I have had 
Buff Orpingtons that showed their sex before they 
were a month old. The Mediterranean breeds seem 
to develop a little more slowly. 

Gallantry to his hens is one of the essential marks 
of a good male. The cock that stands by indiffer- 
ently and lets you pick up one of his harem and 
carry her off, or that crowds to the trough and helps 
himself without first seeing that the hens are served, 
may fertilize the eggs, but he will not increase the 
vigor of the flock. I am always glad to find in my 
flock a cockerel that flies at me and pecks my feet 
when I enter the pen, for a fighting disposition is 
one of the surest marks of a good breeder. 

The male bird is often said to be half the pen. 
As a matter of fact he is more than half. Both color 
and fecundity are inherited from him. A male bird 
that is known to be the son of a heavy layer is the 
surest means of increasing egg production. Utility 
should never be sacrificed for color, but it need not 
be. By selecting for breeding males the best colored 
cockerels that are known to be sons of high produc- 
ers, a well colored, high producing flock can soon be 
built up. 

The Hens 

Size and shape come from the hens. This is now 
a well established principle of breeding. If you 
want a flock that is up to standard size, you must 
breed from large hens. If you want birds of the 



118 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

long-backed, deep chested type, you must select hens 
of this type. It is important that the hens be good 
layers, but not so important as that the male bird 
should be the son of a good layer. 

The Cockerel Pen 

Every up-to-date poultry ranch now has its cock- 
erel pen. The very best layers are chosen for this 
pen and are mated to a cockerel known to have been 
hatched from a good layer. The cockerels from this 
pen are carefully banded and are used to head the 
next season's breeding pens. In this way males 
hatched from high producers are always to be had 
for breeding, and the average production of the flock 
is raised year after year. 

Where only a few fowls are kept the eggs from the 
best two or three layers may be hatched by them- 
selves, and the cockerels from these eggs marked 
for future breeders. 

Mating 

Mate a cockerel to two-year-old hens, or a two- 
year-old cock to pullets. The first mating is consid- 
ered the best, but the second will probably give more 
pullets. 

Cockerels under ten months old should not be used 
as breeders, and pullets should be used only when 
mated to old cocks. Never mate pullet to cockerel. 
Neither pullets or cockerels should be mated under 
ten months of age. 

Matings of yearling cocks with yearling hens often 
produce very good results, but as a rule it is better 
not to mate fowls of the same age. 

The number of females a male can take care of 
depends largely upon the season. In spring a cock- 
erel of the Mediterranean breed can care for from 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 119 

15 to 20 hens, and one of the heavy breeds for 10 or 
12. In the fall the number of hens must be consid- 
erably reduced, say — one male to six hens of the 
heavy breeds or eight or ten of the Mediterranean 
breeds. No absolute rule can be given, for much 
depends on the age and vigor of the birds and the 
conditions under which they are kept. 

Eggs should not be used for hatching from a pen 
till the male has been with the females about two 
weeks. 

Prepotency 

Prepotency is the ability of a cock bird to trans- 
mit his own characteristics to his offspring. The 
prepotency of any given bird can only be learned by 
trial. Some birds, apparently perfect as breeders, 
beget only culls. Other birds, which make a far 
poorer appearance, prove the best of breeders. 
When a prepotent breeder is found, never let him go. 
Some very successful breeders use two brothers in 
the pen at the first until they learn which is more 
prepotent. 

Breeding for Eggs 

In order to breed for eggs we must first find the 
hen that lays the eggs. In every flock there are 
drones and layers. Merely to cull out the drones 
would be a saving of many dollars each year and a 
corresponding increase in profits, for the drone eats 
nearly as much as the hen that pays her board, but 
we must do more than get rid of the drones. We 
must pick out the hens that are doing our best laying 
and use them for the mothers of next year's cockerels 
and pullets. 

Trapnesting is the only absolutely certain way of 
getting at the laying hen, but the trapnest is not for 



120 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

everybody. On the big poultry farm it is a neces- 
sity ; on the farm or back-lot it is usually a nuisance. 
Some one must always be on hand to let out the 
hens that are on the nests and to record their num- 
bers, and this means closer confinement than the 
women of the family are willing to submit to. 

Marks of the Layer 

1. The bred-to-lay hen is a vigorous hen. This 
she must be, whatever else she is or is not. She bears 
the marks of vigor which have been mentioned. Her 
comb is red, her manner alert, her eye bright, her 
appetite good. She scratches and sings from morn- 
ing till night, and is never seen loafing in a corner or 
on the roost. Very often she may be known by her 
worn-off toe nails, the result of hard scratching. 

2. The bred-to-lay hen is almost always of the 
laying type, long in the back, deep in the chest, wide 
in the fluff, for how can a hen lay unless she has 
room for her egg-laying organs? The body of the 
layer should be long, broad, deep and V-shaped as 
viewed from the side, the small part of the V lying 
toward the front of the body. 

3. The bred-to-lay hen is the hen that commences 
to lay early in the fall. It has been proven again 
and again by trap-nest records that the heavy pro- 
ducers almost invariably lay their first eg^ in No- 
vember. The pullet that does not lay her first egg 
till January need not, unless she was hatched very 
late, be considered. 

4. The good layer is usually the hen with a comb 
that is large for her breed. Just what the relation 
is between laying powers and size of comb we do not 
know, but there is some relation. Leghorn breed- 
ers admit that a great mistake has been made in try- 
ing to breed a small comb on the Leghorn hen. The 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 121 

best laying strains are those with fairly large 
combs. 

5. The best layer is usually the hen that is small 
for her breed. Rarely do hens over standard weight 
prove record layers. There are exceptions to this 
rule of course, but as a rule the best layers in any 
flock are those that are under, rather than over, 
standard weight. 

6. The best layer is almost always a pullet that 
showed her sex early. If you will take the trouble 
to band the pullets that first show their sex, you will 
find most of the best layers in this bunch. 

When the best pullets in the flock have been picked 
out by these signs, they should be placed in a pen by 
themselves and the record of the pen kept. If egg 
production falls below 50 per cent through the win- 
ter there will have to be more culling. 

These pullets should not be used for breeders till 
their second year. If they must be used in the spring 
mate them to a two-year-old cock. 

Using the Trap-nest 

There are many good trap-nests on the market 
and they may be readily made at home by a handy 
man or boy. The principle of all is the same. As she 
enters the nest, the hen closes the door, and is not 
able to get out till some one comes and notes the 
number on her band and lets her out. 

When the object of trapnesting is merely to select 
the best layers and not to make complete records, the 
pullets need only be trapnested from November till 
March. The pullets that make the best records these 
four months, as has been proved by many experi- 
ment stations, are the best layers. 

The ten or twelve pullets that make the highest 
records, mated to the best male you can afford, will 



122 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



give a good foundation for future work, and the 
best cockerels from this pen are the sons of high 
producers that are needed to head next year's breed- 
ing pens. Breeding a good laying strain is just a 
matter of raising the egg record a little every year. 

The average 
production of the 
farm flock the 
country over is 
less than 100 eggs 
per year. It 
should be easy, by 
careful selection 
and buying a good 
male of a differ- 
ent strain every 
two years, to add 
new blood, to 
raise the average 
production to 120 
eggs. 

Line Breeding 

Line breeding 
is almost the ex- 
act opposite of 
breeding for 

eggs. In breeding for egg production we begin 
with poor or mediocre stock and by careful 
selection for vigor and laying qualities breed up a 
heavy laying strain. In line breeding we begin with 
the two most perfect birds we can find, and by proper 
mating for type and color establish a strain which 
has the characteristics of the original parents. We 
may, now and then, produce a more perfect bird, but 
this we do not expect. 




«9 •» 3 n a« 

FIG. 27 FBLCH LINE BREEDING CHART 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 123 

Careful marking of each chick and keeping the 
records of each pen and its offspring is absolutely 
necessary in line breeding. 

Director Quisenberry of the Missouri Station, in 
"The Poultryman's Guide," gives these instructions 
for line breeding, which are simpler and easier to 
understand than the Felch chart. 

1912 Mating 

Pen No. 1 — Ideal cock to ideal hen. Result of this 
mating contains V2 blood of original male and V^ 
blood of original female. 

1913 Mating s 

Pen No. 2 — Male from No. 1 to original female — 
% original female and % original male blood. 

Pen No. 3 — Females from No. 1 to original male — 
% original male and % original female blood. 

191Jf Mating s 

Pen No. 4 — Females from No. 2 to males from No. 
3 — 14 original male and i/^ original female. 

Pen No. 5 — Males from No. 2 to females from No. 
3 — 1/2 original male and V2 original female. 

Pen No. 6 — Males from No. 2 to original female — 
% original female and % original male. 

Pen No. 7 — Females from No. 3 to original male — 
% original male and % original female. 

1915 Mating s 

Pen No. 8 — Males from No. 7 to females from No. 
6 — 1/^ original male and i^ original female. 

Pen No. 9 — Females from No. 7 to males from No. 
6 — 1/2 original male and V2 original female. 

Pen No. 10 — Males from No. 6 to females from No. 
2 — 13-16 original female and 3-16 original male. 

Pen No. 11 — Males from No. 4 or 5 to females 



124 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

from No. 6 — 11-16 original female and 5-16 original 
male. 

Pen No. 12 — Females from No. 4 or 5 to males 
from No. 7 — 11-16 original male and 5-16 original 
female. 

Pen No. 13 — Males from No. 7 to females from No. 
3 — 13-16 original male and 3-16 original female. 

1916 Mating s 

Pen No. 14 — Females from No. 8 or 9 to males 
from No. 10 — 21-32 original female and 11-32 origi- 
nal male. 

Pen No. 15 — Females from No. 8 or 9 to males 
from No. 13 — 21-32 original male and 11-32 original 
female. 

Pen No. 16 — Females from No. 11 to males from 
No. 12 — 1/^ original male and V^ original female. 

Pen No. 17 — Males from No. 11 to females from 
No. 12 — 1/2 original male and 14 original female. 

Pen No. 18 — Females from No. 10 to males from 
No. 12 — 9-16 original female and 7-16 original male. 

Pen No. 19 — Males from No. 13 to females from 
No. 11 — 9-16 original male and 7-16 original female. 

Cross Breeding 

There is absolutely nothing to be gained by cross 
breeding, except perhaps in producing capons, and 
everything to be lost. A cross of a lightweight 
male on heavy females is sometimes advocated for 
broilers, but it would be hard to prove that the 
broilers produced in this way grow more rapidly 
or are better in any way than a pure-bred bird. In 
many cases they do not grow as fast. The bird 
produced by crossing will be larger than the one 
parent but smaller than the other. 

At the Cornell Experiment Station experiments 
were tried in crossing White Leghorns and Barred 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 125 

Rocks, and it was found that in all cases the size 
of the offspring was between the size of the Leghorn 
and that of the Rock, but chickens produced by the 
cross of Leghorn male on Rock female were larger 
than those produced by Rock male on Leghorn 
females. In other words, size followed the female. 
Professor Rice says : 

''We gained nothing in constitutional vigor, egg 
production or meat production over the pure breeds, 
but we did do this, namely, by bringing together the 
magnificent pure-bred varieties, Single Comb White 
Leghorns and Barred Plymouth Rocks, which have 
taken somebody from fifty to sixty years to develop 
in pure breedness, we have in one season undone the 
careful breeding of half a century." 

A similar experiment of my own in crossing a But- 
tercup male with Buff Orpington females had the 
same results. The offspring were larger than But- 
tercups but smaller than Orpingtons, and their color 
was nondescript. 

INBREEDING 

Inbreeding, that is the mating together of fowls 
too closely related, has been blamed for nearly all 
the troubles the poultryman is heir to. Failure of 
eggs to hatch, failure of chicks to grow, failure of 
hens to lay, are all laid to the door of inbreeding. 

It must be kept clearly in mind by the beginner 
that line breeding and utility breeding are two dis- 
tinct and separate things. Line breeding belongs to 
the fancier and must be left in his hands. Utility 
breeding is the only thing that concerns us. 

In line breeding there must of necessity be in- 
breeding, though not the mating together of brother 
and sister, which is the worst form of inbreeding. 
Daughter is mated back to sire, and son to mother, 



126 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

and again, sons and daughters of these matings back 
to the original parents and to each other. Fanciers 
claim that there is no loss of vigor from line breed- 
ing, but utility breeders claim there is. 

Whichever of these views be right, and I daresay 
they are both right sometimes, it is much safer for 
the beginner to purchase, at least every two years, a 
male bird of different strain from his own, sending 
East for him, if necessary. If he prefers to use his 
own males, he can buy eggs from some good breeder 
instead of a male bird and mate his best male to the 
pullets from these eggs. In buying a male bird it is, 
of course, necessary to make sure that he is the son 
of a high producer, or the egg production of the 
whole fiock may be injured. 

DETERMINING SEX 

To what extent the character of the mating deter- 
mines sex is a question that has not been settled and 
probably never will be. One thing seems quite cer- 
tain, namely, that the mating of an old cock to 25 or 
30 pullets is a good way to secure a preponderance of 
pullets in the progeny. By mating a cockerel to 
from 5 to 10 old hens you will secure mostly cock- 
erels. This is the finding of the Missiouri Station, 
and it corresponds with the experience of most poul- 
trymen. 

In general we may expect in hatching to have 
about an equal number of pullets and cockerels. 
Some have held that where the breeding pen is well 
fed and the fowls are contented and happy, condi- 
tions are right for producing f em.ales, but this seems 
to be mostly theory, as is the other opinion that more 
pullets are hatched in warm weather. The fact is 
we know very little, and it is not worth while pre- 
tending wisdom. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 127 

CARE AND FEEDING OF BREEDERS 

Hens used for breeding should be hens in their sec- 
ond season — or even older, — which have passed 
through the molt well. Sometimes the molt brings 
out virtues or defects which have escaped detection 
in the pullet year. As a rule, the best layers molt 
late. Watch, then for the biddy that lays on into 
September or October before she begins to drop her 
feathers. She may be the best layer you have. 

From the time the hens selected as breeders begin 
to molt, which will usually be by the first of August, 
their treatment should be different from that of the 
hens kept as layers. Molting fowls ought to have 
range, with plenty of shade, but the breeders must 
have these pleasant surroundings if they are to pro- 
duce hatchable eggs and strong chicks. Put all males 
by themselves at the beginning of the molt, in shady, 
comfortable coops, and give the hens the widest 
possible range. An orchard is a fine place for them, 
and a corn field is nearly as good. 

If they are of the heavy breeds some of the hens 
are sure to be overfat after the rich laying ration of 
the winter. These should be put in a pen by them- 
selves and their ration reduced till their surplus fat 
is gone. A fat hen is in no condition for making 
feathers. 

Feeding Breeders 

During the breeding season the breeders should 
not have the forcing ration which is fed to layers. 
What we want from them is not quantity, but qual- 
ity. They require more hard grain, especially wheat 
and oats. Oats especially are considered conducive 
to fertility. Some poultrymen add rolled oats to the 
mash, others feed an extra amount of sprouted oats. 

An abundance of meat and greens is a necessity to 



128 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

the production of fertile eggs. It pays to buy pluck 
or green bone once or twice a week for breeders. 

Exercise 

If exercise is important for la> ers, it is doubly im- 
portant for breeders, for they must lay not only 
eggs, but fertile eggs. If the fowls cannot have 
range, give them deep litter to scratch in and make 
them scratch or go hungry. 

Vigorous breeders, properly cared for, mean fewer 
chicks dead in the shell, fewer runts, less sickness 
among young and old stock, more eggs, quicker 
growth, earlier maturity, more profit all along the 
line. If things go wrong look first to the condition 
of your breeding stock. 

OLD HENS AS LAYERS 

Pullets for layers, old hens for breeders, is the rule 
adopted by most poultrymen, but there are many 
exceptions. Undoubtedly most hens lay more eggs in 
their pullet year than they do the second, but when 
the cost of raising pullets is considered, it is cheaper 
to use a hen two years as a layer than to raise a pul- 
let to take her place. Many hens are still worth 
keeping in their third year. Of this the owner must 
be the judge. Assuming that it costs $1.50 per year 
to feed a laying hen and that she must bring in a 
profit of $1.00, she will need to lay about 100 eggs or 
eight dozen at thirty cents per dozen. Most of the 
hens kept by farmers lay less than 100 eggs in their 
pullet year, it is said. If this is true, the necessity of 
closer culling and better breeding is apparent. 

On commercial poultry plants, where the stock 
has been carefully bred for egg production, many 
hens are found that will net a dollar profit or even 
more in their third year. At Cornell records of the 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 129 

four highest producing hens for three years showed 
surprising results. They were as follows : 

1st year 2nd year 3rd year 

Lady Cornell 257 200 ^ 191 

Madam Cornell 245 131 163 

Cornell Surprise 180 186 196 

Cornell Supreme 242 198 220 

Three of these hens, it will be observed, actually 
laid more eggs in the third year than in the second, 
and one, Cornell Surprise, laid more in the third year 
than in either the first or second. In the case of 
Lady Cornell, the only one in which there is a 
steady decrease from the first to the third year, the 
decrease is so light that the hen may be assumed to 
have been a profitable producer for two years more. 
Undoubtedly the advisability of keeping any hen 
after the second year must depend upon the hen her- 
self, and the trap-nest is the only sure guide to a 
knowledge of her real worth. 

THE FALL EGG PROBLEM 

The secret of success with poultry is very largely 
the secret of getting eggs when eggs are dear, that 
is, in the fall. Producing eggs in the spring when 
every hen is laying requires neither skill nor knowl- 
edge, nor does it go far toward paying the feed bills 
for the rest of the year. The fall egg is the ultimate 
end and aim of all poultry keeping, the center about 
which all plans and schemes revolve. 

Every spring matings are planned with the design 
of somehow catching that will o' the wisp. Every 
fall hears the same complaint, "Hens won't lay. 
What is the matter?" 

Instead of asking "Why won't they lay?" it might 
be well to ask, "Why should they lay?" The jungle 
fowl never thought of laying in the fall. It was 



130 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

enough for her to lay a couple of dozen eggs in the 
spring. This gave her as large a family as she 
wished to raise. Why should she worry about more? 

It is a far cry from the jungle fowl of the dim and 
misty past to the domestic hen of the twentieth cen- 
tury with her record of 300 eggs a year, and yet one 
little word bridges over the whole of the distance, 
just one word, "breeding." The twentieth century 
hen lays from 200 to 300 eggs a year because she 
has been bred to lay. Feeding and care have gone 
hand in hand with breeding, but they would have 
counted but little except for the selection, year after 
year, decade after decade, of the best fowls. Per- 
haps the selection has not always been very intel- 
ligent. Very likely it has been in many cases the 
survival of the fittest. Nevertheless, somehow or 
other the domesticated, laying hen, with her more 
or less high production, has been evolved out of that 
insignificant ancestor. What has been done can be 
done again, and it will be more effectively accom- 
plished because of some things we understand now 
which were not understood even 20 years ago. 

Fall laying, it must always be remembered, is 
contrary to nature. Spring is the natural mating 
season for birds and animals. Mother Nature her- 
self is back of it all, and it is not easy to change the 
nature of things. 

Egg-laying is reproduction, nothing more, and it 
is said that the pullets and cockerels which are most 
strongly sexed — that is, that show their sex earliest 
— are the pullet which can most easily be induced 
to lay out of the natural reproductive season, and 
the cockerel which will transmit this quality from 
mother to granddaughter. The question is an in- 
tricate and interesting one and worthy of the most 
careful attention of scientists and breeders. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 131 

This much we know, however, that there are ways 
of increasing fall egg production and that the first 
of these is breeding for eggs. It is possible by se- 
lecting year after year the hens that as pullets laid 
well in the fall and the males that are known to be 
sons of high producers, and breeding from them, to 
produce a race of hens that will lay in the fall. This 
has been done in many cases. It is done systemati- 
cally on all commercial egg farms. It will be done 
more and more by amateurs as the principle becomes 
more widely understood. Perhaps the time will 
come when all hens will lay in the fall as they now 
lay in the spring. Then there will be no more high 
prices for fall eggs, and we shall all be trying to 
change nature again. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Marketing 

HANDLING EGGS 

Making the hens lay is only half the battle for 
poultry profits. Getting the eggs to market in proper 
condition is just as important. Investigations by the 
United States Department of Agriculture show that 
nearly 17 per cent of all eggs shipped to wholesale 
markets are a total loss because they are unfit for 
use. In Missouri alone it is estimated that careless- 
ness in handling eggs costs the farmers of the state 
a million dollars a year. Think what a tremendous 
loss this means the country over! 

These losses, according to the department, are di- 
vided as follows : 

Dirty eggs 2 per cent 

Broken eggs 2 per cent 

Chick development 5 per cent 

Shrunken, due to holding 5 per cent 

Rotten 21/2 per cent 

Mouldy or stale 1/2 P^i* cent 



17 per cent 
It is further estimated that these losses would be 
wholly or nearly eliminated by better management 
at the point of production, by more careful grading, 
and by more systematic methods of marketing. 

Better management on the part of the producer 
means eggs that are (1) fresh, (2) clean, (3) infer- 
tile, (4) of good size and all the same size, (5) of uni- 
form shape and color, (6) well packed. The follow- 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 133 

ing rules may well be observed by every one who 
raises eggs for market : 

Rules for the Producer 

1. Keep all male birds out of the laying pens. 
Infertile eggs can be had in no other way, and infer- 
tile eggs do not spoil. 

2. See that nests are clean and the litter fre- 
quently renewed. 

3. Gather eggs twice a day and keep in a cool, 
well ventilated place. 

4. Market all eggs at least twice a week. 

5. Grade well for size and color. 

6. Market pullets' eggs separately or use them at 
home. 

7. See that all eggs weigh at least 22 ounces to the 
dozen. ''Extras' should average 24 ounces. 

8. Never wash eggs. Wipe with a damp cloth if 
necessary. 

"Extras" in the San Francisco market must be all 
white, perfectly fresh, reasonably clean, must weigh 
at least 22 ounces to the dozen and average 24 
ounces. In Los Angeles there is no distinction as to 
color. 

An infertile egg never rots, but it does become 
stale and shrunken after a time, hence the necessity 
of marketing often. An egg is not ''strictly fresh" if 
it is over two days old. In fertile eggs in warm 
weather the germ often begins to develop in a few 
hours, hence the extreme importance of marketing 
only infertile eggs. 

Selling Eggs 

Eggs may be sold (1) direct to the consumer, 
(2) direct to the retailer, (3) to commission mer- 
chants, (4) to the local poultry dealer or the wagon 



134 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

which goes through the country picking up eggs and 
poultry. The first method is the most profitable. 
Large poultrymen who can contract for a given num- 
ber of dozen each week are often able to sell very 
profitably to hotels and restaurants. Smaller pro- 
ducers sometimes find good customers in the soda 
water fountains, but a good private trade is the 
best. There are many well-to-do people in all large 
cities who are willing to pay the highest market price 
the year round for eggs of guaranteed quality. A 
few will pay a little over the market price, but this 
cannot be counted on. 

Sometimes selling direct to the retailer is as profit- 
able as selling direct to private customers, but most 
retailers want too large a profit. The country grocer 
pays from five to ten cents a dozen under the market 
price. Some city groceries, which have particular 
customers, will take guaranteed eggs at two or three 
cents under the retail price. The producer who 
makes a point of quality can usually find some re- 
tailer who will do the square thing. 

Now that parcel post is no longer an experiment, 
it is possible for the small producer in many cases to 
work up a family trade in eggs and dressed poultry, 
and such a trade, if goods are first class and attrac- 
tively packed, should pay well. 

Packing Eggs 

Eggs shipped to commission men or the city grocer 
are packed in cases holding thirty dozen, and should 
be very carefully graded as to size and color. If you 
do not grade them yourself you will have to pay some 
one else to do it. 

The postoffice department requires that eggs sent 
by parcel post be first wrapped separately in excel- 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 135 

sior, cotton or paper, and then packed in one of the 
containers manufactured for the purpose. 

For eggs delivered by hand there are neat car- 
tons which may be had for about a cent apiece. 

Improving Eggs 

When a poultryman finds that a large number of 
his eggs do not grade as ''extras," there is just one 
thing to do, that is, improve the quality. If the eggs 
selected for hatching are all eggs that will weigh at 
least 22 ounces to the dozen, all the same size and 
color, and all with good, strong, smooth shells, the 
eggs of next year's pullets will be of more uniform 
quality and better size. Never set an eg^ that is not 
up to the standard. Hens that persistently lay thin- 
shelled, badly shaped eggs, should be eliminated 
from the flock. 

PRESERVING EGGS 

The best method of preserving eggs, and the one 
now recommended by all experiment stations, is 
what is called the water glass method. Eggs pre- 
served in a water glass solution will keep almost per- 
fectly for several months. The taste is a trifle flat 
as compared with that of a fresh e^^y but they are 
wholesome and sweet and will poach nearly as well 
as a fresh e^^. 

Water-glass (sodium silicate) may be bought from 
any druggist for twenty-five or thirty cents a quart, 
and a quart will preserve twenty dozen eggs. Boil 
ten or twelve quarts of water and let it cool. Then 
add a quart of water-glass and mix thoroughly. The 
mixture should be kept in a stone jar in a cellar or 
other cool place, and the eggs placed in it each day 
as soon as they are brought from the nest. Do not 



136 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

put in dirty eggs nor eggs that have been washed. 
The liquid should cover every egg completely. 

When eggs that have been in a water-glass solu- 
tion are to be boiled, pricking a hole with a pin in the 
large end of the egg will keep it from cracking. 

By this method eggs may be stored at a very 
trifling expense in the spring when they are cheap 
and kept for family use in the fall when prices are 
high and fresh eggs are too valuable to use at home. 

MARKET POULTRY 

Market poultry may be classified as (1) broilers, 
(2) fryers, (3) roasters, (4) hens, (5) capons. 
Broilers weigh from one and one-half to two pounds. 
Fryers weigh from two to four pounds. Roasters are 
young birds weighing from four to six pounds. 
Roosters that have their spurs are no longer roasters. 

Broilers and Fryers 

Chicks intended for broilers should be hatched in 
the fall or early winter. September is an excellent 
month for getting out broilers for the Christmas 
market. Broilers hatched between the first of Sep- 
tember and the last of January always bring a good 
price for the demand is sure to exceed the supply. 
Many poultrymen hatch for this special broiler mar- 
ket in the fall when their incubators and brooders 
would otherwise be idle. These chicks are fed a 
special ration after the first three weeks and are 
marketed as soon as they weigh two pounds unless 
they are intended for fryers, when they should weigh 
from two to three pounds. 

The surplus cockerels from the spring hatches are 
not as profitable as these winter broilers, but if they 
are separated from the pullets as soon as they show 
their sex, confined quite closely and fed a fattening 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 137 

ration, they can usually be counted on to pay for 
their raising and something more. 

The ration fed to the cockerels intended for mar- 
ket may contain a good deal more soft food than that 
of the pullets. A moist mash twice a day from the 
first month on, with cracked corn at noon, will keep 
them growing and bring them to marketable age at 
eight or nine weeks in the case of the heavy breeds, 
and about twelve weeks for light breeds. 

Notwithstanding the fact that market quotations 
in early spring are higher for broilers than for fry- 
ers, my experience is that it is hard to get a good 
price for birds under two pounds weight, and from 
two to three pounds is really the most profitable 
weight to sell them. Outside of hotels and restau- 
rants, few people care for a bird that weighs less 
than two pounds, and the hotel and restaurant trade 
is only for the poultrymen who make a specialty of 
broilers and can agree to deliver a certain number 
every week. Two-pound birds in early spring will 
bring from thirty to thirty-five cents a pound, live 
weight, perhaps a little more at times, and this is the 
most profitable time to sell them. Additional weight 
that might be added by holding them would not make 
up for the probable drop in price, to say nothing of 
the feed consumed. 

Fattening Cockerels 

When the young cockerels have nearly reached the 
desired weight they are much improved by being 
placed in crates which hold six or seven birds each. 

Bulletin 10 of Purdue University Experiment Sta- 
tion gives these directions for crate fattening: 

"A crate should be built in as cool and quiet a spot 
as possible, and divided into compartments capable 
of holding six or seven fowls. These divisions can be 



138 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



made 35 inches long, 24 inches deep and 16 inches 
high. Slats make the best front and can also be 
used for sides and top. The bottom should be made 
of half -inch hardware cloth wire to allow the drop- 
pings to pass through, thus insuring sanitation and 
clean feet. Under the wire bottom should be placed a 
metal pan to catch the droppings. This can be re- 
moved when necessary and easily cleaned. 

**Only birds with good vitality and apparently good 
vigor should be used, for the feeding capacity of the 
fowl has much to do with the gain in weight. When 
the birds have been selected and placed in groups 
in the coops, they should be starved for 24 hours in 
order to clean out the intestines and make them hun- 
gry for the fattening ration. This is fed in a trough 
placed outside the crate in front of the birds. The 
birds should appear ravenous and eat greedily. If 




i 



Mm 



u 




I 



FIGS. 28 AND 29 FEED HOP- 
PER. UPPER WITH TOP 
REMOVED TO PUT IN FEED 



they do not, there is something wrong with them, and 
they should be removed from the coop. When the 
birds have eaten greedily for thirty minutes the 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 139 

trough should be taken away, thoroughly cleaned and 
allowed to dry. 

"Water is not necessary except in hot weather. It 
is advisable to feed grit every few days. Two weeks 
is a good average length of time to feed. 

"The greatest gain should be made during the first 
week, but it is profitable in most cases to continue for 
another week. A three to four-pound cockerel should 
make a gain of at least one pound in the two weeks 
at a cost of not over seven cents for feed." 

A good fattening ration consists of 2 lbs. corn 
meal; 1 lb. shorts; 1 lb. ground oats; 8 lbs. butter- 
milk. 

Roasters 

Birds intended for roasters are hatched in the fall, 
preferably in September, and marketed anywhere 
from the last of January till the middle of March, 
when they bring twenty-five to thirty cents a pound, 
live weight. When one has plenty of room and the 
right kind of birds roasters may be handled in this 
way very profitably as a side line. The pullets make 
excellent spring and summer layers. 

Whatever the age of the bird it is always best to 
confine it for a couple of weeks before killing and 
feed a fattening ration. The birds will weigh more 
and command a better price. 

The most profitable way to market poultry, except 
where private customers can be found for dressed 
birds, is alive. Fattening and killing requires special 
equipment which the poultryman as a rule does not 
possess. Dressed poultry is also very perishable 
and it is difficult to find a market save in a small 
way. 

KILLING AND DRESSING 

Fowls that are dressed for market, whether public 



140 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

or private, should make as presentable an appearance 
as possible, and for this three things must be ob- 
served : 

1. The fowl must bleed thoroughly. Failure to 
do this leaves discolorations on the skin. 

2. The head must be left on. There are excep- 
tions to this rule. Private customers do not care to 
see the head, and broilers are marketed without it, 
but in general, the public prefers to see the head, and 
so the head is left on. 

3. The skin must be unbroken. 

4. The fowl must be plump and appetizing. 

In order to satisfy the first two conditions, the 
fowl must be bled without removing the head, and 
the only way to accomplish this is to kill by the 
method called "sticking." First, hang up the bird by 
the legs, then, according to directions of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, "grasp it by the bony part of 
the skull. Do not let the fingers touch the neck. 
Make a small cut with a small, sharp-pointed knife 
on the right side of the roof of the mouth, just where 
the bone of the skull ends. Brain for dry picking 
by thrusting the knife through the groove which 
runs along the middle line of the mouth until it 
touches the skull midway between the eyes. Use a 
knife which is not more than two inches long and 
one-fourth inch wide, with a thin, flat handle, a sharp 
point and a thin cutting edge." 

If it is properly "stuck" the bird will bleed freely. 
Now hang a blood can on the fleshy part of the lower 
mandible and "dry-pick." The skin will be smoother 
and whiter if the fowl is dry-picked instead of 
scalded, and if the feathers are pulled in the direc- 
tion in which they grow, they can be easily and 
quickly removed without danger of breaking the 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 141 

skin. An experienced picker can dry-pick a bird in 
less than a minute. 

CAPONS 

Very little has been done on this coast with capons, 
but a wave of new interest is spreading over the Mid- 
dle West, and it is bound to reach California sooner 
or later. The arguments pro and con are: The 
capons are made from late hatched cockerels which 
would bring a very low price as broilers or fryers. 
Unsexed and allowed to grow till February or March 
they easily reach ten pounds in weight and bring 
from twenty-five to twenty-eight cents a pound. On 
the other hand, six months is a good while to feed a 
bird, even though you make a profit of a dollar on 
him, and he takes up room which is needed by the 
growing pullets. These objections are trifling. The 
more serious one and the one which probably deters 
many persons from trying the experiment is that 
capons cannot be made from Leghorns or any other 
of the light breeds. The best capon is made from a 
Brahma or from a cross of a Dorking or Rock male 
on a Brahma female. Orpingtons, Rocks and Wyan- 
dottes make good capons, but they do not reach the 
size that a Brahma capon does. In other words, in 
order to make a success of caponizing it seems to be 
necessary to keep a special breed for this special 
purpose. The capon is not, except in a few instances, 
a by-product of egg production, as broilers and fry- 
ers are. Still, the Missouri Station says they are the 
most profitable of all market poultry, and the man- 
ager of a large Los Angeles commission house, whose 
opinion I asked, held, that considering the cheapness 
of eggs from which June chicks are hatched, capons 
should be more profitable than early broilers. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Sanitation and Hygiene 

PREVENTING DISEASES 

A vigorous flock of prolific fowls is an impossiblity 
without sanitary surroundings and intelligent feed- 
ing. Take the finest, hardiest pen of fowls you can 
buy, house them in an unventilated coop, allow filth to 
accumulate on the floors and mites to breed among 
the filth, neglect to spade or to plant the runs, and 
in a very short time your vigorous, red-combed 
birds become roupy, worthless stuff. Up-to-date 
poultrj^-men understand this so well that the modern 
poultry plant is almost as clean as my lady's kitchen. 

Roup is the most common result of contaminated 
air. Scaly leg arises directly from filthy runs and 
yards. Chicken pox is passed on from generation to 
generation in houses where disinfectants are never 
used. Dirty drinking water is the source of 
diarrhea and other intestinal troubles. Moldy 
scratching litter causes a disease of the lungs and air 
passages which is as hard to cure as roup. Foul 
soil breeds the pestilent gape worm, and who can 
catalogue the trouble and loss that follow when filthy 
houses and coops once become infested with mites ? 

Cleanliness is the first essential in the care of 
fowls, and in order to attain perfect sanitary condi- 
tions there must be, as the Maine Station has tersely 
put it : 

1. Clean Houses. 

2. Clean Air. 

3. Clean Food. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 143 

4. Clean Water. 

5. Clean Yards and Clean Range. 

6. Clean Incubators and Brooders. 

7. Clean Birds, Outside and Inside. 

The Clean House 

A clean poultry house will have (1) a clean floor, 
(2) clean walls and nests, (3) movable Toosts and 
fixtures. 

A Clean Floor 

The cleanest floor is a cement floor. Swept daily 
and washed clean with the hose once a week, it gives 
no chance for mites to breed. When a cement floor 
cannot be had, a board floor is next best. It has 
cracks, to be sure, where mites may hide, but they 
will not if it is kept clean. A dirt floor is the least 
sanitary, and only by removing the droppings every 
day or two can it be kept clean. 

Objection is sometimes made to cement floors on 
the ground that the fowls' toe nails are broken or 
worn by scratching on them, but the use of a little 
dirt or sand, with six or eight inches of straw above 
should save the fowls' feet. 

Movable Fixtures 

Mites always breed under something. No use look- 
ing for them anywhere else in the day time. At night 
you will find them on the hens. The sanitary house 
or coop must have no place that cannot be reached 
and cleansed or disinfected. Under the ends of the 
roosts, under the droppings on the floor or the drop- 
pings-board, under the litter in the nests, in every 
crack and crevice, these pests may be found in a 
mite-infested house; hence the extreme importance 



144 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

of being able to move everything and cleanse under- 
neath. 

Droppings-boards are a great help in keeping a 
house sanitary. They too should be movable and 
should be cleaned very often. 

The Garden Hose 

No weapon is more effective in the war against 
mites than the common garden hose. A house hosed 
well once a week, walls, ceiling, roosts and nest boxes, 
is likely to be free from mites. If the hosing is fol- 
lowed twice a month by painting roosts, nests, and 
the walls next to the roosts with kerosene and crude 
carbolic acid (1 part acid to 3 or 4 of kerosene) 
there will be little trouble from mites or other 
vermin. 

In a large house where the hose cannot be con- 
veniently used, it is necessary to spray once a month 
in cold weather and at least twice a month in warm 
weather, but on a small place the hose is cheaper 
and more easily used and just as effective. 

Summer Quarters 

Here is a little secret of my own, and I have not 
been bothered by mites since I discovered it. When 
hot weather comes, get your hens out of the main 
house into temporary quarters. On the farm this is 
easy, for it is only necessary to build a burlap-cov- 
ered shed in the orchard or stubble field. On a back 
lot it is not so easy, but it can often be done. When 
the birds are out of the houses during the mites' 
breeding time, the mites do not breed there, and a 
good painting with lice killer when the fowls return 
in the fall will keep them out for a good while. Even 
when the fowls cannot be removed from all the 
houses, if they have been properly culled in June, 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 145 

they can be bunched together in the shadiest runs, 
and part of the houses left vacant. 

Nest Material 

Clean nest material is of vital importance in the 
production of clean eggs as well as in the elimination 
of mites. Shavings and excelsior are preferred to 
straw, because they do not so readily harbor mites. 
Tobacco stems in the nests will keep both lice and 
mites from breeding there, and there are various 
medicated nest eggs on the market which are said 
to do the same thing. 

Ventilation 

Since fowls cast off the waste moisture of the body, 
not through the skin and kidneys, as we do, but 
through the lungs and air passages, it is easy to see 
that ventilation is of vital importance. Not only 
should the poultry house be an open front house, but 
it should have circulation of air, that all impurities 
may be carried off and a supply of oxygen provided. 

Circulation of air is also important as a preventive 
of dampness, which is a more deadly foe to the health 
of fowls than even close air. If the dirt floors of 
your houses are wet by the rain soaking under the 
foundation, see that everything is open and a good 
current of air blowing through as soon as the rain 
stops. Dampness and close air are the most prolific 
causes of roup and other respiratory diseases, and 
neither should be tolerated for a moment. 

Purifying the Land 

Fowls can bear more abuse than any other domes- 
tic animal, it is said, and it is astonishing how long 
they will continue to thrive on filthy soil, but there 
is always an end. To keep fowls, as I have seen 



146 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

them, in yards where droppings are piled so thick 
and high that the hens can by no possibility touch 
clean ground with bill or toes is to invite disaster. 

Spading up the soil of the runs and scattering lime 
over them is one way of purifying the soil, but the 
best way is to plant green stuff. In this way the 
manure which cannot be raked up is utilized in grow- 
ing poultry feed, and the soil, if it is left vacant till 
the green crop is grown, is thoroughly purified. 

Rape is one of the best greens for this purpose. 
Fowls like it and it makes a rapid growth. Oats, 
barley or any other grain may be planted and will 
grow in a few weeks to a height suitable for feeding. 
Where a system of double runs is maintained a new 
crop can be planted once a month in the alternate 
pens. Corn is an excellent crop for runs which can 
be spared for several months. 

When runs and yards must be used for a year 
without growing a green crop, they should be raked 
and spaded as often as they seem to need it. Sandy 
soil can be kept clean in this way much longer than 
adobe or heavy loams. It is a good plan sometimes 
to plant oats or barley in occupied runs, covering 
them so deep that the fowls will not dig them out be- 
fore they sprout. If the ground is kept moist three 
or four days and then turned up with a spade, the 
succulent sprouts furnish both green feed and an in- 
centive to scratch. 

Shade 

In all those localities where the sun is liable to 
be hot almost any day in the year, shade is more im- 
portant than some poultry keepers seem to think. 
Chickens cannot change their clothing to suit the 
weather and they suffer much more, I am sure, than 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 147 

we humans do, from the direct burning rays of the 
sun. 

Baby chicks left exposed to the glare of the sun 
soon die. I went to church one hot April morning 
and forgot to shade a Philo coop which held thirty- 
five or forty young chicks. When I returned three 
hours after one chick was just breathing its last, and 
they dropped off, one by one, till the entire brood 
was gone. Adult fowls can bear more heat than 
chicks, but they are very uncomfortable and this 
should be reason enough for protecting them. 

Hens and chicks alike prefer the shade of a low- 
growing tree or vine to anything else. Nothing 
pleases them quite so much as a grape vine. Corn is 
a particularly good shade for young chicks. The 
shade is low and not too dense. 

Deciduous trees make a very satisfactory summer 
shade and are profitable besides, but they are of no 
use in February, when shade is often greatly needed. 
For a permanent shade, good all the year round, 
nothing is such a pleasure to fowls or such a satisfac- 
tion to their owner as a pepper tree. It might make 
too dense a shade in a north-front yard, but in a 
south-front yard, especially on a southern slope, it 
is ideal. Vines when they can be made to grow are 
excellent shade, but unless the vines are started 
ahead of the chickens they are impossible. Castor 
beans are good but ugly. 

When there is nothing else a wooden frame two or 
three feet high covered with burlap sacks makes a 
very good shade, but it is not pretty, and every poul- 
try keeper ought to plan for some permanent green 
shade. Whether you have a tree or only a makeshift 
burlap shade, try throwing a pail of water under 
it every day, just enough to keep the ground moist 
and make a wallow for the fowls. This helps to keep 



148 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

them free from lice and gives a great deal of com- 
fort. 

Government Whitewash 

A thorough whitewashing once a year, inside and 
out, goes far to keep buildings clean and sanitary. 
The following is the formula for whitewash which is 
recommended by the government : 

One peck of lime slacked in boiling water and kept 
just covered by the water while slacking. Strain 
through coarse cloth. Add two quarts of fine salt 
dissolved in warm water, one pound of rice meal 
or ground rice boiled in water to a thin paste, one- 
quarter pound of whiting, and half a pound of glue 
dissolved in warm water. Mix all thoroughly and 
let stand covered for two or three days, stirring occa- 
sionally. Heat the mixture before using. Sometimes 
a quantity of crude carbolic acid is added to this 
wash, but this changes the color somewhat and is no 
more effective than whitewashing the houses and 
then painting roosts and nest boxes with the acid. 

INSECT PESTS 

Probably the control of insect pests is the hardest 
task the poultryman has to face, and this is espe- 
cially^ true in the warmer climates where they breed 
the year round. Summer and winter the fight must 
be waged. There is no let-up, though cleanliness and 
properly constructed houses make it easier. Lice kill 
baby chicks and turkeys, stunt the growing stock 
and make hens unproductive and prone to disease. 
The little red mite always lies in wait to devour and 
is sure death to young stock and sitting hens. Ticks 
and fleas are found only in certain localities, but are 
very hard to get rid of. 

There are eight kinds of lice and eighteeen species 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 149 

of mites besides the tick or dovecot bug, and several 
kinds of fleas. 

Lice 

Lice are the most widely distributed parasites of 
poultry and are to be found in almost every flock that 
is not frequently and persistently treated with lice 
powder or some other means of removing them. The 
common body louse is yellow and may easily be seen 
in the fluff below the vent. 

The dust bath is of first importance in handling 
these pests. In every hen yard there should be a 
place where the soil is kept moist by sprinkling, and 
frequently spaded, so that hens may dust themselves 
freely. Wood or coal ashes added to this dust bath 
make it still more effective. Some hens will almost 
keep themselves free from lice when they have un- 
limited opportunity for dusting, but there are few 
flocks where other treatment is not necessary. 

There are three methods of treating lice : dusting, 
dipping and greasing. Dusting is the method most 
generally employed. Buhach or any good louse 
powder rubbed well into the fluff around the vent 
and under the wings will keep down the lice for a 
time, but the dusting must always be done twice at 
intervals of five or six days, so that the nits which 
hatch after the first dusting may be killed. 

Dipping in sheep dip, tobacco water or kerosene 
emulsion is very effective, and, it is said, will keep 
fowls free from lice a whole season or longer, but it 
is not generally practiced, because it is very trouble- 
some and can be done only in the warmest weather. 

Blue Ointment — A mercury preparation which is 
recommended by many experiment stations, is said 
to be very effective in ridding the hens of lice, but 
must be used with great care for it is a powerful 



150 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

poison. As used at Petaluma the blue ointment, 
which may be purchased at almost any drug store, is 
diluted with lard, a pound of the ointment being 
mixed with a gallon of lard. This is rubbed about 
the vent and under the wings, and is not dangerous, 
nor is it as effective as the blue ointment mixed with 
an equal quantity of vaseline. When the stronger 
preparation is used a very small quantity should be 
taken on the finger and carefully rubbed about the 
vent. 

LowRY Powder. — The Maine Station recommends 
this lice powder as the cheapest and most effective 
treatment: 3 parts gasoline, 1 part crude carbolic 
acid, 90-95 per cent strength. If this strength of the 
acid cannot be obtained, use 3 parts gasoline, 1 part 
cresol. Mix these together and add gradually while 
stirring enough plaster of paris to take up all the 
moisture. As a general rule it will take about four 
quarts of plaster of paris to one quart of the liquid. 
The liquid and dry plaster should be thoroughly 
mixed, and the resulting mixture will be a pinkish- 
brown powder, which is to be worked into the feath- 
ers and fluff like any other powder. This is called the 
Lowry powder, after its inventor, Mr. R. C. Lowry of 
Cornell University. 

Sitting hens should be well dusted before the eggs 
are given them and two or three times during incu- 
bation, so the young chicks may be free from lice, 
which are fatal to them. It is safest, also, to grease 
the heads and throats of hen-hatched chicks with 
lard, for it is hard to be sure that the hen is perfectly 
clean. Hen and chicks should be dusted every week 
or two or the lice will find them. 

Lice powder or tobacco powder or tobacco stems 
in the sitting hen's nest will go far to keep her free 
from lice, and it is said that kerosene sprayed with 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 151 

an atomizer into the mother hen's feathers, under the 
wings and around the vent once a week, will keep 
her and her brood absolutely clean. 

Incubator chicks are free from lice when hatched 
and will remain free if brooders are disinfected for 
every new brood and are kept clean and at a dis- 
tance from all hens, but it is just as well to dust 
them occasionally as a matter of precaution. Dr. 
Salmon says : "When anything is the matter with a 
horse the maxim is ^Examine his feet,' and when any- 
thing is found wrong with poultry or other domesti- 
cated birds the maxim should be 'Look for lice.' " 

Dust and Distillate. — A friend of mine has de- 
vised a clever method of keeping lice from baby 
chicks. She finds a nice, dusty place in the back yard 
and sprays the dust full of distillate. The chicks' 
coop and wire run are then placed over this dust 
bath, and the chicks wallow for several days. Their 
down is soon filled with this oily dust, and the lice 
never find them. 

Mites 

The most common and injurious of the eighteen 
species of mites is the little red mite (Dermanys- 
sus gallinae), which is found in nearly every 
hen house that is not kept very clean. Cement 
floors and a thorough sweeping out of all droppings 
every week will go far toward keeping these 
pests away. If in addition houses are washed out 
with a garden hose every two weeks or oftener and 
sprayed or painted once a month with some good 
spray, mites will rarely find shelter in them. Nest 
boxes must be cleaned often, painted with lice killer, 
and fresh nest material put in. 

It must be remembered that whereas lice live on 
the bodies of the fowls themselves and ''subsist upon 



152 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

the productions of the skin and fragments of feath- 
ers," mites suck the blood of their victims by night 
and find their home in cracks in the walls, under the 
ends of roosts and in corners of nest boxes, and are 
found in great numbers among the droppings on a 
dirt floor. Absolute cleanliness is therefore the only 
preventive, and when thej^ have once found a home 
in a poultry house only a strong disinfectant will kill 
them. 

Here are several good mixtures, either one of 
which should be effective in ridding a house of 
mites : 

1. Kerosene and Crude Carbolic. — For spraying 
and painting houses and coops there is nothing bet- 
ter than a mixture of kerosene and crude carbolic 
acid, three parts kerosene to one of the acid. This 
is recommended by the Maine Station and is very 
generally used. 

2. Kerosene Emulsion. — The Department of Ag- 
riculture recommends a kerosene emulsion which is 
prepared as follows : Shave one-half pound of hard 
soap into one gallon of soft water and boil the mix- 
ture until the soap is dissolved. Then remove it to 
a safe distance from the fire and stir into it at once 
two gallons of kerosene. Dilute this stock mixture 
with 10 parts soft water and apply as a spray or 
with a brush, being careful to work into all cracks, 
crevices and joints. 

3. Cresol Disinfectant. — The Missouri Station 
recommends the following emulsion: "Shave a 10- 
cent cake of laundry soap into a pint of soft water, 
steep it until a paste is formed, stir in one pound of 
comm.ercial cresol, beat or allow to stand until the 
paste is dissolved, and stir in one gallon of kerosene." 
Cresol is a verj^ powerful disinfectant, costing about 
30 cents a pound. Care must be taken not to get it on 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 153 

the hands or face. It should be applied undiluted 
with a brush. 

Watch the Brooders 

Brooders and coops where young chicks are kept 
should be examined and treated often for mites, for 
nothing will so quickly stunt the growth of young 
stock. For coops for hens with their broods it is a 
good plan to use clean new boxes and never to use 
one a second time, and the same may be said of nest 
boxes for sitting hens. If every one of these boxes 
is destroyed as soon as the hen or the brood is 
through with it much trouble will be saved. 

Tobacco powder scattered through the litter of the 
sitting hens' nests will usually keep mites away, but 
all nests should be watched. 

Mutton Tallow. — A very simple method of keep- 
ing mites out of poultry houses is to paint the roosts 
twice a year with hot mutton tallow. One of the 
largest poultry plants in Southern California uses 
this successfully. The tallow is melted and then is 
kept hot over a small oil stove while the caretaker 
goes from house to house and paints the roosts with 
it. On this plant all the roosting houses have cement 
floors, and between the cement below and the tallow 
on the roosts, with a good cleaning out twice a week, 
no mite has a chance to find shelter. 

Carbolineum, zenoleum and other coal-tar prep- 
arations are highly recommended for this purpose. 
They are applied with a brush to roosts and walls. 

Ticks 

The tick or bedbug of poultry closely resembles 
the bedbug found in dwelling houses. It is found 
only in certain localities, usually on very sandy soil, 
but where it does exist it is a terrible pest. The 



154 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

Maine Station's bulletin on poultry management says 
the sprays recommended for mites will destroy ticks 
as well, but California poultrymen have found paint- 
ing or spraying the infested house with corrosive 
sublimate solution (8 ounces of corrosive sublimate 
to 20 gallons of water) the most effective remedy. 
When houses can be tightly closed they may be fumi- 
gated vnth sulphur or formaldehyde or with the 
cyanide process used for citrus trees. 

With ticks as vdth other pests, the best remedy 
is prevention. A house that is kept perfectly clean is 
not likely to be infested. 

Fleas 

The common hen flea (Pulex gallinae) is also 
found in dirty houses and runs, and especially in 
nests where straw is used. Theobald recommends 
the use of excelsior or shavings for nesting material 
because fleas do not breed as readily in them as in 
straw. 

The most effective remedy for fleas is perfect 
cleanliness. Whitewashing with a wash to which 
crude carbolic acid has been added (1 pint acid to 
12 gallons whitewash), and throvnng or spraying it 
into all the cracks and dark corners will usually 
drive them out, but the houses must be watched and 
cleaned again and again. To get the fleas off the 
hens dip them in Zenoleum or a good sheep dip. 

For sticktight fleas and sand fleas spray or wash 
the houses with hot salt water and apply corrosive 
sublimate to the fleas found on the chickens. In 
handling corrosive sublimate care must be taken to 
keep it out of the chickens' or the attendant's eyes, 
for it is a very deadly poison. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 155 

HYGIENIC FEEDING 

Sanitation looks to the external conditions which 
surround the bird; hygiene to internal conditions; 
and when we refer to internal conditions we usually 
mean conditions affecting the digestion, for the 
fowl's digestive tract, like man's, is ''where he lives." 

There are six essentials to hygienic feeding : 

1. Pure Food. — Don't buy moldy corn or ground 
grain because it is cheap. It may prove to be very 
dear. Don't buy beef scrap without knowing whether 
it is made of hoofs and horns or of something more 
digestible. If grain gets wet and molds on your 
hands, don't feed it. The fowls may be able to eat 
it without suffering, and they may not. 

Don't feed moldy bread or spoiled table scraps, 
and be particularly careful about spoiled meat and 
putrefying fowls and animals. Every bird that dies 
about the place should be buried deep or burned,, 
Limberneck and ptomaine poisoning result from the 
fowls getting this kind of food. 

2. Clean Water. — Water has been called the 
cheapest of poultry foods, and fowls drink a great 
deal when it is clean and cool. Never set water be- 
fore your fowls that you would not drink yourself. 

3. Clean Fountains and Feed Troughs. — 
Crocks and pans should be scalded once a week and 
rinsed every day. They should also stand on a table 
or platform where the fowls cannot scratch filth into 
them. A galvanized iron pan is more easily kept 
clean than the porcelain crocks which are often used. 

Troughs or pans in which wet mash is fed should 
be scraped clean every time they are used, and 
washed often. Never leave wet mash standing be- 
fore the fowls. It molds quickly and then becomes 
unfit for food. 

4. Clean Scratching Litter. — Moldy scratch- 



156 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

ing litter is just as dangerous as moldy grain. The 
mold spores enter the air passages and form a 
growth which spreads through the lungs and often 
into the digestive organs. 

5. Green Feed. — The health of the fowls as well 
as egg production demands a plentiful supply of 
green feed. The mineral salts and especially the 
chlorophyl in the fresh, succulent greens are better 
than any medicine for keeping the liver in order. 
Never stint your stock, young or old, on green feed. 

6. Exercise. — Health and productiveness depend 
on exercise, and for fowls closely confined scratching 
for their grain is practically the only means of ex- 
ercise. Every poultry yard should have a scratch- 
ing pen either in the house or outside, and this 
should be kept full of litter — six or eight inches is 
none too much — and every bit of grain thrown in 
this litter for the hens to dig out. Dry leaves and 
corn stalks may be used if straw and hay are scarce, 
but there is nothing quite so good as alfalfa hay. 

Droppings Indicate Health 

The condition of the droppings furnishes a good 
indication of the hen's health. They should be of 
sufficient consistency to hold their shape, but should 
not be too solid. In color they should be dark, taper- 
ing off into grayish white. If the droppings are soft 
or pasty and of yellowish or brownish color, it in- 
dicates too much carbohydrates or a lack of meat. 
If, on the other hand, the droppings are watery and 
dark with red splashes of mucus in them, it indi- 
cates too much meat. A greenish, watery diarrhea 
usually indicates unsanitary conditions, either in the 
surroundings, the feed, or the water. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 157 

CARING FOR HENS IN SUMMER 

The care of hens in summer must be considered 
from two points of view, i. e., comfort and diet. 

Many hens begin to molt by the first of July, and 
while molting is a natural process, it is still some- 
thing of a drain on the system. The molting hen is 
not a sick hen, but if she has been doing her part at 
filling the egg basket she is a tired hen. If she has 
been loafing, she should be disposed of before the 
molt begins. 

The key- word to the care of hens during the molt- 
ing period, which begins the first of July and lasts 
till December, is rest, and rest means comfort. All 
hens that are not to be kept through another season 
should be sold in June, so that the molting hens 
may have more room. 

On the farm or on the poultry plant of consider- 
able acreage there is often a shady orchard into 
which the hens can be turned for their summer rest. 
On a large plant this is not, of course, practicable, 
but the hens kept on these large plants are invari- 
ably White Leghorns, and they, for some reason, 
adapt themselves to crowded conditions and lack of 
range much more readily than do the heavy breeds. 
For Rocks, Reds and Orpingtons an orchard, planted 
to rape or barley, where the hens may range and 
loaf, is an ideal vacation ground, and they will need 
less feeding if allowed to forage for part of their 
living. The summer outing is not more valuable to 
the tired business man than it is to the "business 
hen." 

The hen that is allowed to range a little will find 
a place where she can wallow in soft dirt in the 
shade of a tree. When she is confined, such a place 
must be provided for her. 

Drinking vessels should receive special care dur- 



158 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

ing the summer. Rinse them out thoroughly at least 
once a day and scald once a week to remove every 
bit of the algae which grows so quickly in warm 
weather. Keeping the vessels in the shade helps to 
keep down this troublesome green growth. Cool, 
fresh water means much to the comfort of hens in 
hot weather and should be provided twice a day al- 
ways, oftener if necessary. On one of the largest 
poultry plants in Southern California the water 
troughs are emptied and rinsed three times a day. 

Comfort at night is quite as essential as comfort 
during the day. Hens that are crowded in close, 
stuffy quarters, or worried by lice and mites, can- 
not sleep well and will be fagged and worn before 
the summer is over. Every roosting house should 
be provided with windows at the rear, which may be 
opened in warm weather. Where only a few hens 
are kept, or where they are moved to the orchard for 
the summer, temporary coops of 1x3 covered vdth 
muslin or burlap make inexpensive summer roosting 
places. If the hens happen to roost on top no harm 
is done; in fact, sleeping out of doors is just as good 
for hens as it is for folks, and an out of door roost- 
ing place can often be managed if only one thinks of 
it. Nearly all my pullets this summer left their 
coops and roosted outside, and they are in the pink 
of condition. 

The same principles that govern the diet of hu- 
man beings in summer apply also to the feeding of 
hens. A lighter diet, less of meat and all heating 
foods, and more of succulent greens, is as necessary 
to hens as is an increased proportion of fruit and 
vegetables to the rest of us. Omit corn and corn 
meal from the ration until it is needed for making 
feathers; allow access to the mash for half a day 
only ; give all the greens the hens will eat, and sprout 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 159 

part of the grain instead of feeding it dry. Whole 
barley, soaked and allowed to stand two or three 
days till the sprouts begin to show is one of the best 
of summer feeds. This sprouted barley in the morn- 
ing, with wheat in the litter at night, greens at noon, 
and half a day's access to the dry mash hopper, 
makes a good summer ration for stock of all ages. 

Some Leghorn breeders feed a little whole corn 
with the wheat and barley right through the sum- 
mer, but this will not do for heavy hens. 

Overfat hens are in no condition to go through 
the molt and must be put by themselves and their 
ration reduced. This is very necessary, for an over- 
fat hen, while she drops her feathers easily, can- 
not so easily manufacture new ones. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Fixtures and Conveniences 

WATER VESSELS 

On a poultry plant of any size it is necessary 
for water to be piped to each pen or to each two pens. 
If the hydrant is between the pens a single pan 
placed under it will answer for both. 

Galvanized iron pans or basins are more easily 
cleaned than those of tin, but the large stone crocks 
which are still used in many places have the ad- 
vantage of being very firm, so that a bird alighting 
on the edge is in no danger of tipping them over. 

There are various systems by which a large plant 
may be supplied with water, some of them working 
automatically, but for the beginner there is nothing 
better than the faucet and movable pan. The pan 
should always be upon a raised platform so that the 
birds will not scratch filth and litter into it. 

For baby chicks there is nothing better than the 
galvanized iron fountains which are sold by all sup- 
ply houses. 

A handy water fountain is made of a ten-pound 
lard pail. Cut notches in the upper edge about two 
inches ^ide and three inches deep. Four or five of 
these may be cut so that several hens can drink at 
once. Put on the cover and hang up bj' the bail at 
a convenient height. This fountain protects the 
water from all contamination and costs practically 
nothing. 




ilG. ol FEED lluri'EU I'OU BAUV CHICKS 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 161 



HOPPERS AND FEEDERS 



Feed hoppers should be large enough to hold at 
least a week's supply of mash. They may either be 
separate and movable or built into the house. A 
very convenient style, which may be used either in- 
doors or out, is used at the Missouri Station (Fig. 
23). 

California poultrymen generally prefer a long 
trough which is built into the house, either along the 
front, where the open front house is used, or along 
the alley, where a house with two sections and an 
alley between is used. 

In the model laying house described in Chapter I, 
the feed box and water trough are side by side along 
the outside of the scratching shed. 

A very good trough for feeding moistened mash 
to baby chicks is made in the usual triangular form 
and covered with a slat roof of the same shape, with 
the slats sufficiently far apart to allow the chicks to 
put their heads between. 

Every house should contain a bin for grain, so 
that there may be no carrying of feed through the 
rain in wet weather nor unnecessary steps in warm 
weather. 

THE BROODY COOP 

On a farm where hens of the heavy breeds are 
kept, and to some extent on any poultry plant, a coop 
for broody hens is a necessity. Such a coop is best 
made of slats, with slat bottom, so that the hen can 
never find a warm place to sit in, and should be built 
into the house, if possible, so that she may have all 
the protection others have. At the Missouri Station 
the sides of the coop are made of two-inch mesh 
wire, as in Fig. 34. Such a coop need be only large 
enough for the hen to turn around in. If a hen is 



162 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

confined as soon as she is seen remaining on the nest 
at night, and kept in the coop four days, she will be 
broken of her desire to sit and will usually begin to 
lay again in a week. While in confinement she should 
be well fed, so that she may be in condition to begin 
laying as soon as possible. Starving hens, shutting 
them up in the dark or turning the hose on them 
are methods of treatment that are worse than use- 
less. The broody hen must be helped to forget her 
desire to incubate, and only gentle treatment will 
do this. 

ROOSTS 

Roosting too early is generally believed to be the 
cause of crooked breastbones. Whether or not there 
is any foundation for this belief it is well to guard 
against any such trouble by not trying to force 
young birds to roost before they are ready. 

Chickens of different breeds and often of the same 
breed differ greatly in the age at which they wish 
to roost. Last spring some of my young Orpingtons 
which had been deserted by their mother began to 
roost in a tree when they were barely a month old, 
but this was exceptional. Most chicks do not try to 
roost before they are six weeks old, and some delay 
till two months or even longer. 

When the chicks are about six weeks old and no 
longer need other warmth than that of their own 
bodies, it is a good plan to place them in colony 
coops which have roosts but are also bedded with 
straw. Sometimes I put a shallow box or basket 
half full of straw or dry leaves on the floor of the 
coop under the roosts, and the first night I put all the 
chicks in this. They soon learn to go to bed in the 
right place, but little by little the more venturesome 
find the roosts and go there instead of into the bas- 




FIG. 84 BROODY COOP 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 163 

ket, and after a short time I find them all on the 
roosts. 

Roosts for young stock should be two inches wide. 
For adult fowls three inches is a better width, for 
the efforts of a large fowl to keep itself on a narrow 
roost by grasping it tightly with its claws sometimes 
result in bumblefoot. Chickens should be able to 
rest comfortably on a perch without having to cling. 

Roosts for heavy fowls should be not over two and 
one-half feet from the ground. Leghorns may roost 
considerably higher, but an Orpington or a Rock, in 
jumping from a high roost onto a hard floor fre- 
quently bruises its feet and causes bumblefoot. Place 
all roosts on the same level. If they are of different 
heights all the birds will crowd upon the highest. 

A very good roost is made of 2x2 material with the 
upper sides rounded. This is recommended by the 
Department of Agriculture. 

A GOOD NEST 

The proper sort of nest is a very important part 
of the poultry house plan. On the farm or the back 
lot where only a few hens are kept, a grocery box, 
if it is of the right size and contains sufficient litter, 
answers very well, but the poultry house which is 
destined to hold many layers must contain nests that 
are well planned and efficient. 

A favorite way of building nests is to put them 
under the droppings boards. Some of the best ex- 
periment stations do this, and it is a very good way 
where the requirements of cleanliness are observed. 
Others build them along the front of the laying house 
where they are entirely away from the roosts. 

The proper size of the nest must receive careful 
consideration. It should not be too small, for two 
hens will often crowd upon one nest, with resulting 



164 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

breakage. Professor Graham of the Massachusetts 
experiment station recommends a nest 16x24 inches. 
This is large enough to permit several hens to go on 
at the same time, and he has found that it reduces 
the number of cracked and broken eggs to a mini- 
mum. 

Some experiment stations recommend the nest 
with a bottom of wire cloth as being more easily- 
kept clean from mites. Others prefer a nest in 
which the sides rest upon the bottom wdthout being 
nailed, so that they may be lifted off and the bottom 
thoroughly cleaned. This could only be managed by 
having sides which extended but few inches above 
the bottom, leaving an opening above where the hens 
could crawl from nest to nest. 

Hens like a nest that is rather dark and secluded, 
and it is absolutely necessary that all nests be kept 
clean. 

HOMEMADE CONVENIENCES 

While it is true that the commercial poultry keeper 
and the large breeder must have the best equipment, 
and enough of it, it is also true that the farmer and 
the side-line poultrjinan can often manage without 
putting very much money into equipment. A little 
ingenuity will devise brooders that are quite as good 
as the patent sort, and sometimes better. 

In a backyard plant I saw 300 White Wyandotte 
chicks, just out of the incubator, being cared for in 
a clever modification of the Philo brooder. The coops 
used were the regular Philo coops, all facing south. 
Half of the top was covered with cheesecloth, and 
about half the other end with wire, leaving a space 
in the middle for the Philo brooder, which was un- 
covered except for a six-pane window sash. The 
sash extended far enough beyond the sides of the 





Miiii't lir III '^ ' , ' ir^ ^wfe^>i 



FIG. 35 BROOD COOP MADE OF GROCERY BOX 



L * 'M? V Vi C^ >S?^ '.S 




FIG. 36 '^'^JUG mother" and simple BROODING COOP 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 165 

brooder so that it partly protected the wire-covered 
run at the end into which the brooder door opened. 
This arrangement gave the chicks the three tem- 
peratures which a newly hatched chick requires : the 
high temperature of the brooder which, with the sun 
shining on the glass, was very warm indeed; the 
cooler, but still warm space just outside the door but 
under the glass; and the out-of-door but well pro- 
tected space under the wire, where the drinking 
fountain and some scattered rolled oats awaited the 
enterprising chick that dared venture so far. The 
cheesecloth-covered end of the brooder was entirely 
fenced off, but would be used later. At night a quilt 
or flannel hover was substituted for the sash. There 
were six of these brooders, each holding fifty chicks. 
An easy way of caring for baby chicks without 
a brooder or brooder house is to have a small pen 
fenced with inch mesh wire and built against the 
east side of some building so that it is entirely pro- 
tected from the prevailing westerly winds. Facing 
east, with its back against the house, place a good- 
sized dry goods box which is perfectly tight on three 
sides. The floor of this box is covered with sand and 
chaff or finely-cut straw. The fireless brooder, with 
its twenty-five chicks, stands in this box, with door 
opening into the box so that the chicks have a little 
run inside for the first few days. When they are 
four or five days old, sooner if the weather is warm, 
they are let out into a little run which is wired off 
for them just in front of the box; for baby chicks 
are such foolish, helpless creatures that they can 
never find their way back if they once get away from 
the brooder. After a week or two, according to the 
weather and the disposition of the chicks, this inside 
fence is removed and the chicks have the run of the 
pen, but they must never be allowed far from the 



166 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

coop until they are brooder broken, that is, till they 
have learned to return to it wherever they are. 

There are various ways of keeping baby chicks 
warm at night in these fireless brooders. A vinegar 
jug filled with hot water and wrapped in flannel 
makes a splendid mother, but if this is used the 
frame with the quilt attached to it must be replaced 
temporarily with a blanket or old sweater. 

When the jug of hot water is used, and it is an 
effective but troublesome method, the brooder is 
more easily constructed of a box about the size and 
shape of an apple box. This must be made tight on 
all sides and is then placed on its side with the open 
top facing the side of the box coop. The hover is at- 
tached to a frame which rests on cleats at the two 
ends of the brooder, but the quilt or blanket must 
be large enough to drop down over the sides of the 
jug and rest on the backs of the chicks. It is a de- 
light to see the comfort of a brood of chicks cuddled 
about a jug with a blanket tucked close about them. 

Cans and Pans. — There are tricks in all trades, 
and one of the tricks the side line poultry keeper 
must learn is to use what he has and not spend 
money for what he can do without. Nothing about 
the house is more useful for supplying the needs of 
baby chicks than the empty baking powder can. The 
cover makes a splendid receptacle for grit, charcoal 
or bran, and the can itself, with a little nick in the 
edge of the top, makes a very fair fountain when in- 
verted in a saucer. When the chicks outgrow bak- 
ing powder can covers I give them their dry mash 
in tuna cans. When the tuna can in its turn is out- 
grown, they get an old basin which has served its 
day in the kitchen. I worked out for myself a dry 
mash hopper for grown fowls, which I considered 
merely a temporary makeshift until I read that a 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



167 



very similar device was used at one of the egg-laying 
contests. It is a tin or agate basin — a tin milk pan is 
about right size, and costs ten cents — ^with a square 
of inch-mesh wire over the top which is held down 
by half a brick in the middle. 

TRAP-NESTS 

In planning trap-nests for a laying house, one 
trap-nest should be provided for every four or five 
hens. It is necessary to visit the nest several times 
a day to release the hens that are confined on the 
nest. This is more work than most farmers are will- 




-Q^ > < /X' 



FIG. 39 DIAGRAM OF MISSOURI TRAPNEST, SHOWING ACTION OF TRIGGEE 

ing to undertake, but it is the only certain way of 
finding the best layers. As each hen is released from 
the nest, her number is noted, and a record made. 

Oregon Trap-Nest 

The Oregon trap-nest has been in use twelve years 
and is one of the simplest and cheapest designs. As 



168 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



the hen enters the nest, her weight closes the door, 
and it is impossible for her to get out or for another 
hen to enter. When the nests are built in a single 
tier the hen may be taken out either through the 
door or through the top. 

This nest can be made from one 10-foot board. 
The material required consists of : 

1 board 1x12x10. 

6 screw eyes No. 210 bright. 

2 pieces iron rod 3-16x12. 
2 pieces rawhide 9x%. 

After nailing together, turn the nest on its side 
and bore the holes in the sides for the 3-16-inch iron 




HOME-MADE TRAP-NEST RECOMMENDED BY UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT 

OP AGRICULTURE 



rod. The holes are 1 inch from the bottom and 1% 
inches from the nest front. 

On the bottom of the trip-board, put a screw eye 
% inch from the end and 1 inch from each side. At 
the other end of trip-board, bore %-inch holes, 1 inch 
from one end and 3 inches from each side. 

On the bottom and at each side of the door put in 




FIG. 37 OUEGON TKAPNEST 




FIG. 38 MISSOUIU TRAPNEST 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



169 



a screw eye 1% inches from the end and % inches 
from the sides. On the upper side tack two rawhide 
strips using a small staple or nail for each. The end 
of the strap will be 2 inches from the end and y^ 
inch from the side of the door. 

Place the door in front of the trip-board, the 




screw eyes down; push the rawhide strips through 
the holes in the trip-board ; turn the boards over and 
draw the strips up tight then bend the door back 
over the trip-board until there is full % inch between 
the boards when laid flat; the strap should then be 
tacked to the lower side of the trip-board. 

The door and trip-board are put in place by push- 
ing the iron rods through the sides and the screw 
eyes. Care should be taken in placing the screw 
eyes in the proper places. The screw eyes may be 
adjusted in order to make the door balance properly. 



CHAPTER X 
Dbeases and Vices 

It is sometimes supposed, because the poultry 
press has so much to say about diseases of fowls, 
that they are more liable to disease than other 
domestic animals. Nothing could be farther from 
the truth. A hen can bear more neglect and careless 
handling than any other animal would endure, and 
it is just because she can endure so long in spite of 
bad air, foul water and unhygienic feeding that 
when she does get sick, the case is apt to be hopeless. 

CAUSES OF DISEASE 

Causes of disease in fowls may be classified as fol- 
lows : 

1. — Inherent Weakness. — Fowls which lack con- 
stitutional vigor are always the first to contract dis- 
ease. Run-down stock w^hich, either through in- 
breeding or lack of selection for vigor, has lost its 
vitality is the prey of ailments which pass by a vigor- 
ous, well cared for flock. In fact, neither prevention 
nor treatment is of much use with run-down stock. 
Keep your stock vigorous, and disease will give it a 
wide berth. 

2. — Poor Feeding and Sanitation. — These mat- 
ters have been fully discussed in the chapter on sani- 
tation. The most vigorous stock will not remain 
vigorous in filthy quarters or with careless feeding, 
and a fowl that has once been really sick rarely re- 
gains its vigor. 

3. — Contagion. — Chicken-pox, cholera and many 
other diseases are passed from fowl to fowl with ap- 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 171 

parently no other reason for their existence, yet even 
these diseases will be found to attack the weaker 
stock first. Chicken-pox, particularly, is very infec- 
tious, and may be carried in coops or on the hands or 
clothing, and the germs will remain year after year 
in a house where it has been. When any contagious 
disease is prevalent, the greatest care should be ob- 
served to avoid carrying the disease in any way. 
When any sick fowl has been treated, the hands 
should always be thoroughly cleansed before other 
fowls or feed troughs or water fountains are 
handled. 

4. — Accident. — Such diseases as crop bound, rup- 
ture of the ovary or egg tube, are in a way accidental, 
and yet they may very often be traced in the final 
analysis to a weakened constitution. 

Prevention is better than any sort of treatment, 
but when disease does appear, promptness in dealing 
with it may effect a cure, when delay means sure 
death. 

SIGNS OF DISEASE 

The poultry keeper should train his eye to discern 
any lapse from health on the part of a single one of 
his fowls; the dark or pale comb, the lagging step, 
the ruffled plumage, the ''humped up" attitude, the 
failure to be on hand at meal time, are all indications 
that something is wrong. Now is the time to find out 
what is the trouble. Don't wait till th^ are past 
help. 

Diseases of fowls, like those of human beings, are 
acute and chronic. The chronic disease comes on 
slowly and gradually ; the only symptoms at first may 
be the color of the comb or a disposition to stay on 
the roost. Acute disease comes on more rapidly. 
Sometimes the only symptom is a dumpiness or 
drowsiness that increases till the fowl dies. 



172 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

The hen's comb has been called her "certificate of 
health," so unerring a signal does it display as to her 
physical condition. An acute disease like roup does 
not, of course, immediately change the color of the 
comb, but a bright red comb can usually be counted 
on as an indication of vigorous health. Sometimes a 
pale or shrunken comb merely indicates that the hen 
is not laying, but a hen with such a comb should 
always be watched. A pale comb, combined with 
diminishing weight, ''going light," suggests tuber- 
culosis and should subject the fowl to careful investi- 
gation, followed, in most cases, by speedy elimina- 
tion. A dark comb means liver trouble, and the case 
should be taken in hand before further symptoms 
develop. When warty-looking excrescences appear 
on the comb and about the head, chicken-pox may be 
safely diagnosed. 

As soon as the first sign of illness is observed it is 
a good plan to give a dose of castor oil or Epsom 
salts and put the bird on free range where it can 
pick at something green if it wishes to eat. Some 
poultrymen give their flocks Epsom salts in the wet 
mash once every week or so to cleanse the system 
and prevent liver trouble. Others give it regularly 
for a while in the spring. 

COMMON DISEASES 
The following descriptions of symptoms and sug- 
gestions for treatment are taken mainly from "Poul- 
try Diseases and Their Treatment," by Dr. Raymond 
Pearl of the Maine Station, which may be had for 25 
cents by writing to the Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion, Orono, Maine; and from Bulletin 530 of the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture by Dr. Salmon, 
which will be sent free. Every keeper of poultry 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 173 

should have at hand some such book for immediate 
reference. 

Liver Disease 

Caused by lack of exercise, overfeeding, or feeding 
too rich foods. 

Sanborn mentions as early symptoms: "Rough 
plumage, watery diarrhea, first brownish then yel- 
low ; lack of appetite and indisposition to move. The 
comb may be purplish at first, becoming dark and 
then quite black." The disease may be diagnosed 
positively only by a post mortem examination, when 
the liver will be found enlarged or congested or mar- 
bled or spotted. 

Treatment. — Make the mash light and bulky; 
feed green and vegetable food liberally ; compel exer- 
cise by scratching. Get the fowls out a little every 
day, or let them out altogether if it is possible ; cor- 
rect any sanitary conditions that are not right. Dan- 
delion tea mixed in the mash is a valuable medicine. 
Give Epsom salts frequently. 

Crop Bound 

The walls of the crop may be over-distended with 
dry grain, or, as more often happens, the lower por- 
tion of the oesophagus becomes clogged by straws, 
grass, feathers, or other substances. In either case 
the crop fails to empty itself while the bird con- 
tinues to eat. The real cause of impacted crop prob- 
ably lies in low vitality due to improper feeding and 
indigestion. 

Treatment. — If the crop-bound condition is 
caused by swelled grain, the bird may often be 
treated without an operation. First give the bird a 
teaspoon of castor oil. After allowing this a little 
time to work into the crop begin to knead the hard 



174 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

mass. After this has been softened hold the bird 
head downward and try to work the grain out 
through the mouth. If this does not succeed, or if the 
impaction is due to straw, it will be necessary to open 
the crop. The following method for this operation 
is given by Sanborn, "Farm Poultry Doctor" : 

"Pluck out a few feathers and then cut through the 
skin over the crop a line about one inch long. Then 
make an incision three-fourths of an inch long 
through the crop. The distention of the crop will 
cause the opening to gap, and the mass will be in 
plain sight. With toothpicks, tweezers or similar 
tools take out the contents of the crop and make sure 
that there is nothing remaining to obstruct the outlet 
to the organ. To close, take three or four stitches 
in the opening in the crop, making each stitch by 
itself and tying a knot that will not slip. Then do 
the same thing to the cut in the skin. For the stitches 
use white silk if possible, if not. No. 60 white cotton 
will do." 

Tuberculosis 

Tuberculosis is caused by a minute germ, the Bacil- 
lus tuberculosis of birds. These bacteria gain en- 
trance to certain portions of the body and there 
multiply in vast numbers, causing the formation of 
small nodules or tubercles. The disease is highly 
contagious and is spread through the flock by con- 
tact of healthy birds with diseased ones. Avian 
tuberculosis is not the same as the disease which at- 
tacks human beings, and while cases have been 
known where persons have apparently taken the dis- 
ease from birds, it is believed that birds rarely if 
ever take it from human beings. 

There are no symptoms by which the disease can 
be recognized till it reaches an advanced stage. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 175 

Emaciation is the surest symptom. There is pallor 
of the comb and wattles, general weakness, lameness, 
ruffling of the feathers, and in many cases, diarrhea. 
"When combined with the foregoing you notice a 
bright eye and a ravenous appetite, you may have 
very strong suspicions." If a post-mortem reveals 
the liver, spleen, and intestines "studded with white, 
cheesy nodules of various sizes," your suspicions will 
be strengthened, but it is only by examination of 
these nodules under a microscope that the pathologist 
can be absolutely sure that the bacilli are present. 

Treatment. — When tuberculosis has reached a 
stage where it can be diagnosed there is no longer 
any cure. Sick birds should be killed, and all birds 
which are suspected removed from the flock. Disin- 
fect houses, runs, feeding troughs and water vessels, 
using cresol disinfectant or a carbolic solution on 
houses, troughs and fountains, and lime on the 
ground. If many birds are affected it may be neces- 
sary to move to clean ground. Dr. Salmon says: 
"When the disease is discovered the effort should be 
to eradicate it at once by killing off the whole flock 
and thoroughly disinifecting all the houses and 



runs." 



Aspergillosis 



This is a very common disease and is caused by 
eating moldy food or scratching in moldy hay or 
straw. It is often mistaken for tuberculosis and is 
a frequent cause of the condition known as "going 
light." The mold spores find lodgment on the mem- 
branes of the air passages and grow there, causing 
inflammation and sometimes abscesses. 

Salmon gives this account of the symptoms of the 
disease: "In the early stages of the disease no 
symptoms are noticed, and it is only after it has pro- 



176 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

gressed considerably that these become apparent. 
The affected birds do not follow the flock; they are 
very weak, scarcely able to stand, and consequently 
remain by themselves and move about very little. 
They remain in a recumbent position, resting upon 
the sternum, are sleepy, and, if forced to run, soon 
fall from exhaustion. The plumage is dull and 
rough, the wings are pendant, the eyelids partly 
closed, the head depressed. Respiration is quickened, 
and accompanied by a rattling or snoring sound, and 
becomes difficult and labored, the bird opening its 
beak from time to time to take a long inspiration. 
There is fever and thirst and little appetite. There 
is more or less catarrh of the trachea and bronchi, 
with emaciation and diarrhea leading to death from 
exhaustion in from one to eight weeks." 

Treatment. — No cure is known, and it is there- 
fore obviously important that all grain and scratch- 
ing litter be absolutely clean. 

Young chicks are even more susceptible to asper- 
gillosis than adult stock, and no pains should be 
spared to make sure that their food and litter are 
free from mold. 

Catarrh 

Catarrh is simply a cold in the air passages and 
is not contagious. It is caused by exposure to cold 
or storms or by drafts in the roosting house. 

Symptoms. — The birds are dull, they sneeze, and 
breathing is obstructed. Soon there appears a 
watery discharge which gradually becomes thicker; 
the eyes are watery, the eyelids swollen and some- 
times stuck together. Catarrh is very like the first 
stages of roup, and it is impossible in many cases to 
distinguish between the two. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 177 

Treatment. — Removal of the cause will usually 

effect a cure. Dr. Salmon recommends this tonic: 

Gentian root 4 drams. 

Ginger 4 drams 

Sulphate of iron 2 drams 

Hyposulphite of sodium 1 dram 

Salicylate of sodium 1 dram 

Pulverize and mix thoroughly and give three to 

four grains a day for a medium-sized fowl. 

In severe cases the eyes, mouth and nostrils may 

be washed twice a day with one of the following 

solutions : 

1. Boracic acid, 3 per cent solution. 

2. Creolin, 1 per cent solution. 

3. Carbolic acid, 2 per cent solution. 
Hydrogen peroxide and witch hazel are also good. 

Bronchitis 

The symptoms of bronchitis are the symptoms of a 
hard cold, with rapid breathing and cough. It may 
be distinguished from simple catarrh by the 
whistling sounds or rattling made in breathing. 
When the disease is neglected these symptoms may 
become chronic. In very severe cases the bird be- 
comes dull, breathing is increasingly difficult and the 
bird finally dies. 

Treatment. — Place in a warm, dry, well-venti- 
lated room, feed bread or middlings moistened with 
milk, and add to this food two grains of black anti- 
mony twice a day. Salmon recommends giving ten 
drops of turpentine in a teaspoon of castor oil and re- 
peating the dose after five or six hours. In very se- 
vere cases give from three to six drops of either the 
syrup or the wine of ipecac. 



178 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

Roup 

Roup occurs in many forms. It may affect the 
head, the eyes or the throat, but there is in all cases 
great depression and dullness, with a putrid odor 
which is characteristic of the disease. Where there 
are symptoms of a cold with a noticeable odor al- 
ways look for roup. There is usually a discharge 
from nostrils or eyes, often the eyelids are stuck to- 
gether or swollen shut, and in many cases there are 
abscesses under the eyes or about the head. 

Harrison and Streit thus describe the special 
symptoms of roup: "By the term roup we under- 
stand a more or less putrid discharge from the nos- 
trils which lasts for weeks or even months. The dis- 
ease often follows a common cold, to which fowls, 
especially young fowls and those of the more delicate 
breeds, are much predisposed. 

"In the first stages of roup the birds often cough 
or sneeze, and the breathing is noisy, caused by the 
partial closing of the air passages which become 
blocked with the discharge from the nostrils. When 
the air passages are entirely closed, the fowl has to 
open its beak in order to breathe. 

"Sometimes a yellowish cheese-like mass forms in 
the nostrils, growing quickly and pressing the upper 
walls of the nose upwards ; if this mass is removed, 
an uneven bleeding surface is left which forms a new 
cheesy mass in from 24 to 48 hours. 

"In more serious cases the face of the roupy bird is 
swollen, especially between the eyes and nostrils, 
and this swelling, which is hot and sore, sometimes 
grows into a tumor as large as a walnut. Sometimes 
the tumor grows inside the nostril and forces the 
roof of the mouth downward." 

In "roup of the eyes" there is inflammation of the 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 179 

eyelids, followed by the secretion of a liquid which is 
first clear, then gray and slimy. This either dries on 
the feathers or becomes a yellowish cheesy mass in 
the eye-socket. 

Combined with the above symptoms there are 
often patches of a grayish yellow exudation firmly 
adhering to the mouth and throat. These are called 
false membranes, and when they are seen the disease 
is called diphtheretic roup, which is the most serious 
of all. 

Treatment. — The only effective treatment is 
prevention. Housing in open-front houses, avoiding 
drafts by carefully closing all cracks and knot-holes 
about the roosts, keeping houses sanitary and feed 
clean and wholesome, taking care to avoid contagion ; 
and above all, breeding only from vigorous birds, 
and especially from birds which have never had roup, 
will soon do away with all fear of the disease. I 
have not seen a case in three years, and I am satis- 
fied that attention to the simple rules of sanitation 
and hygiene is a sure preventive. 

Especially important is it that the ground on 
which poultry houses stand should be well drained 
and that houses should be dry and sunny. 

For those that feel they must treat roup, the potas- 
sium permanganate treatment is as good as any and 
easier than most: Press the nostrils together 
between thumb and forefinger two or three times in 
the direction of the beak, and press upward between 
nostrils and eyes to loosen the discharge, then plunge 
the bird's head twenty or thirty seconds in a one to 
two per cent solution of permanganate of potash. 
Give this treatment twice a day till all symptoms 
have disappeared. 

''Roup of the eyes'* is successfully treated by 
syringing the nasal cavities with boracic acid and 



180 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

camomile, or by washing out the nostril with a 
two and one-half per cent solution of creolin and 
glycerine. "If there are solid tumors in the eyelids, 
they should be opened so that the skin may bleed 
freely. The cheesy matter should be removed and 
the surrounding membrane touched with a five per 
cent carbolic or silver nitrate solution, and then a 
cotton plug put in to prevent the cavity from healing 
too quickly.'' — Harrison & Streit. 

Sanborn ''Reliable Poultry Remedies" recom- 
mends spraying the nasal passages and the mouth 
with the following solution : 

Extract of witch-hazel, 4 tablespoons. 

Liquid carbolic acid, 3 drops. 

Water, 2 tablespoons. 

Canker 

Canker sores in or about the mouth are caused by 
some injury to the mucous membrane and are most 
common in male birds which have been fighting. 
Apply undiluted creolin with a cotton swab or wash 
the sores with equal parts of hydrogen peroxide 
and water. 

Chicken Pox 

Chicken pox, or bird pox, originates entirely by 
contagion. It is generally introduced into the flock 
by new birds or by exhibition birds which are 
infected at shows. Sometimes it is carried by 
pigeons or sparrows. 

Salmon says: ''The eruption appears as round, 
oblong or irregularly shaped nodules from the size 
of a pinhead to that of a pea or hazelnut. They are 
seen especially about the beak and nostrils and on 
the comb, eyelids, wattles and ear lobes. In some 
individuals, and particularly in pigeons, the eruption 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 181 

is more generalized, and is found on the skin of other 
parts of the body. 

"The nodules begin as small, red or reddish-gray 
deposits with a shiny surface and gradually enlarge, 
while the color changes to a yellowish, brownish or 
dark brown, and the surface dries and becomes 
shriveled, uneven and warty in appearance. Owing 
to the number of nodules and the extension of the 
inflammation, large patches of skin become thickened 
and covered with hard, dry crusts, closing the nasal 
openings or the eyelids and making it difficult even 
to open the beak. 

**In the most severe cases, especially with pigeons, 
the eruption extends to the mucous membrane of the 
eyes, nostrils and mouth, causing a diphtheretic in- 
flammation that is generally fatal." 

Treatment. — The simplest way of treating this 
disease is to pull off the scabs from the sores and 
touch the spots with clear creolin on a brush or 
feather. Salmon recommends softening the scabs 
first with vaseline or glycerine, then washing with 
warm, soapy water till they come off easily. Then 
touch with a two per cent solution of creolin or a 
saturated solution of boric acid. If there is much 
inflammation of the eyes, make a solution of one and 
one-half ounces boric acid and one ounce biborate of 
soda in a quart of warm water, and drop in the eyes 
frequently. 

In addition to the external treatment, Dr. Sanborn 
advises calcium sulphide, one grain per day for each 
fowl, mixed in the wet mash. This, he says, will 
shorten the time of the disease and prevent birds 
that do not yet show symptoms from taking it. 

''Going Light" 

"Going Light" is a condition rather than a disease. 



182 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

Sometimes a fowl, for no apparent reason, and with 
no other symptoms of disease, loses weight till it is 
hardly more than a skeleton. Sometimes this condi- 
tion is a symptom of tuberculosis, and sometim.es of 
aspergillosis ; sometimes it is due to intestinal worms 
and sometimes to lice or mites. It may also be due 
to lack of sufficient nourishing food or to poor diges- 
tion. Whatever the cause, the poultry keeper must 
find out what it is and remedy it. 

Limberneck 

"Limberneck" and "wryneck'' are terms which are 
often confused. In limberneck the muscles of the 
neck are paralyzed so that the bird cannot raise its 
head. In wryneck the neck is twisted till the head is 
sometimes turned almost entirely around. Limber- 
neck is caused by indigestion or the eating of moldy 
grain or putrid meat, but wryneck is considered a 
sort of epileptic or nervous disease. 

Limberneck can often be relieved by a good dose 
of physic. Dr. Salmon prescribes fifty or sixty 
grains of Epsom salts or three or four teaspoons of 
castor oil for an adult bird. Director Quisenberry 
in "The Poultryman's Guide" recommends for small 
chicks a dose of from two to ten drops of oil of tur- 
pentine mixed with an equal quantity of sweet oil, 
followed at intervals of from one to two hours by a 
teaspoon or less of ginger tea. This tea is made by 
mixing one teaspoon of ginger with half a cup of 
hot milk and sweetening a little with sugar. Adult 
fowls may have from one to two teaspoons at a dose. 
When the birds begin to improve, let their first meal 
be a little boiled rice. 

Rheumatism 

This disease is an inflammation of the connective 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 183 

tissues of the muscles and joints, and is caused by 
exposure to cold and dampness. The only treatment 
is prevention by keeping the fowls in dry, well- 
ventilated houses and on well-drained soil. 

Scaly Leg 

This disease is caused by a tiny mite which bur- 
rows under the scales of the leg, raising the scales 
and forming a powdery or spongy substance beneath 
them. It is due to filthy yards and houses, but when 
once introduced into a flock is passed from bird to 
bird. 

Treatment. — A number of ointments and oils 
have been used successfully. Before using any of 
them the legs should be well brushed with warm, 
soapy water. If they can be soaked for a short time 
the scales will come off more easily. When as many 
of the scales have been removed as can be taken off 
without drawing blood, use one of the following : 

1. Balsam of Peru. 

2. One part oil of caraway mixed with five parts 
vaseline. 

3. One part kerosene and two parts raw lin- 
seed oil. 

When many fowls are to be treated, an easy 
method which is recommended by Robinson is : Fill 
a quart measure with the kerosene and linseed oil 
mixture, go to the henhouse at night and dip both 
legs of each infected bird in the liquid, holding them 
there for a moment, and then allowing them to drip 
before replacing them on the roost. 

If care is taken to keep infected birds out of the 
flock this disease need never occur. 

Depluming Scabies 

The depluming mite is the cause of a sort of skin 



184 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

disease in fowls which causes the feathers to break 
off at the surface of the skin. It usually begins at 
the rump and spreads to the head and neck, back, 
thigh and breast. Around the stumps of the lost 
feathers and at the end of the quills of feathers near 
the bare spots are masses of epidermal scales. 
Feather eating and feather pulling are often due to 
the presence of this parasite. The introduction of 
one infected bird into a flock will soon cause the 
whole flock to become infected. 

Treatments. — The ointments used for scaly leg 
may be used for the depluming mite. Salmon also 
advises the following: 

Flowers of sulphur 1 dram 

Carbonate of potash 20 grains 

Lard or vaseline 1/2 ounce 

The application should be repeated every four or 
five days till the disease is cured. 

White Diarrhea 

It has been the fashion to speak of white diarrhea 
as a sort of bugaboo which is lying in wait for every 
chick and which only the most fortunate escape. All 
this is pure nonsense. The well-hatched, well-bred 
chick which is kept warm and reasonably well fed 
has just as many chances of surviving as any other 
young animal. The trouble is that when large num- 
bers of chicks are artificially hatched and artificially 
brooded they are often not well hatched and still 
more often not kept warm. Overheating before 
hatching or chilling after hatching weakens the con- 
stitution, and especially the digestion. A sort of 
diarrhea ensues, which is not white diarrhea, 
though it is often erroneously so called, the chick is 
''pasted up behind," droops for a few days, and 
usually dies. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 185 

The real white diarrhea is an infectious disease, 
Bacterium pullorum, and usually comes from an 
infected egg which was laid by an infected hen. 
Prevention should therefore begin with the hatching 
egg. Dr. Salmon says : 

*'If eggs are purchased they should only be ac- 
cepted from flocks known to be healthy, and the 
eggs of which give rise to healthy chicks. If thia 
assurance cannot be obtained, it is better to produce 
the eggs needed for hatching on the home farm and 
from hens that are known to be free from infection. 

"Having obtained the eggs, they should be kept 
until ready for incubation in a dry, moderately cool 
place, so spread out that the air can circulate over 
them and carry away the moisture which they 
exhale. Before putting them into the incubator or 
under the hen they should be wiped with a cloth wet 
in grain alcohol of seventy to eighty per cent 
strength to remove any germs that might be on the 
surface of the shell. The hens used for hatching 
should be free from all infection and the incubator 
should be thoroughly cleaned. If there have been 
any sick chicks in it, it should be disinfected by 
washing with compound solution of cresol (five per 
cent solution). The same precautions should be 
adopted in regard to the brooder." 

White diarrhea may usually be diagnosed by the 
characteristic white or creamy discharge from the 
vent and by the chick's behavior. Sometimes a chick 
that has been chilled will ''paste up behind" with a 
brownish discharge, but remains as lively as ever. 
This is not white diarrhea. In Bulletin 68 of the 
Connecticut Experiment Station, by Professors 
Rettger and Stoneburn, the white diarrhea chick is 
thus described: 

"The chicks soon become listless and sleepy, in- 



186 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

clined to huddle together and remain under the hover 
most of the time. They seem to lose appetite and do 
not eat much. The wings begin to droop or project 
slightly from the body, with feathers ruffled. Many 
of the chicks peep or chirp constantly, the sound 
being shrill or weak, according to the strength of the 
individual." 

Dr. Rettger says it is only during the first forty- 
eight hours that the chick can be infected, hence the 
greatest care should be taken during those first two 
days. Incubators should be disinfected with the 
greatest care between hatches. Any good disin- 
fectant, such as creolin, Zenoleum, or a carbolic 
solution, is sufficient. Kerosene, of course, must 
never be used about an incubator. Brooders also 
should be disinfected before a new brood is put in. 
No hen should be used for hatching or brooding that 
is not perfectly healthy and vigorous or that shows 
any sign of diarrhea. 

Treatment. — ^When a chick is "pasted up," the 
excrement should be carefully removed and the vent 
greased with vaseline. If faulty brooding is the 
cause, remedy this at once and you may save the 
chick. Boiled rice with cinnamon and scalded milk 
with a little grated nutmeg instead of the regular 
diet are recommended, and sour milk or buttermilk 
are the best of remedies ; but a chick with real white 
diarrhea will not eat much, so the treatment must 
be mainly preventive. Rettger and Stoneburn give 
the following on preventing white diarrhea: 

"Since the disease cannot apparently be trans- 
mitted through the food supply after the chicks have 
reached the age of three or four days, every means 
should be taken to prevent the spread of the infection 
during this critical period. We suggest : 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 187 

"The segregation of chicks in small lots during 
this interval. 

"Perfect disinfection and cleanliness of brooders 
and brooder coops. 

"Food and water supplied in such a manner as to 
prevent contagion by the droppings. 

"The use in the brooder of a liberal amount of 
fine, absorptive litter which will quickly cover and 
seal up the droppings. 

"Raise and maintain the vigor and vitality of the 
breeding stock and chicks by every reasonable means 
known to the poultryman." 

Gapes 

Gapes is a disease which frequently attacks young 
chicks, especially on old ground, and is caused by 
minute parasitical worms in the trachea or wind- 
pipe. The disease is thus described by Woods in 
"Reliable Poultry Remedies": "The symptoms of 
gapes are frequent gaping, sneezing, a whistling 
cough with discharge of mucus and worms, dump- 
ishness, weakness and drooping wings." The only 
sure cure is to extract the worms from the wind- 
pipe with a gape worm extractor or a loop of horse- 
hair or fine wire, though good results have been re- 
ported from medicating drinking water with fifteen 
grains of salicylic acid or three drams of salicylate 
of soda to the quart of water. 

Reliance must be placed chiefly on prevention. 
Whenever cases of gapes occur in a flock, all chicks 
should be moved to clean new soil — indeed, young 
chicks ought always to be upon soil which has had 
at least a year of purification by some green crop 
since fowls were last upon it. No soil on which 
gapes has been known is safe for several years after. 
Salmon says the eggs of this worm live a long time 



188 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

in the soil and are sometimes taken into the digestive 
tube of earthworms. In badly infested soil the earth- 
worms may, if eaten, cause gapes in the chicks. 

As soon as the disease appears all affected birds 
should be isolated, and those which die should be 
burned. Feed troughs and water dishes should be 
scalded and houses and coops disinfected. Use potas- 
sium permanganate in the drinking water. 

To extract the worms from the trachea, pass the 
extractor carefully down the trachea for some dis- 
tance, holding the chick's head well back, and turn 
it around to loosen the worms. If there are worms, 
some will be removed with the extractor. If from 
four to ten worms are extracted a cure may be 
counted on, though as many as thirty worms have 
been extracted from one chicken. 

Worms 

Worms in small numbers are said to inhabit the 
digestive organs of all fowls, and when they are not 
too numerous do no perceptible harm. Under cer- 
tain conditions they are supposed to develop too 
rapidly, and then we have the disease known as 
"worms." This is one theory, and no one seems to 
have a better one. Without question worms are often 
found in the intestines of fowls, and without ques- 
tion they affect the health. In recent years a number 
of poultry plants have been put out of business by 
epidemics of worms, so it behooves every poultry- 
keeper to watch for symptoms, to treat cases that 
occur, and to prevent infection as much as possible. 

Three species of worms are known to infect the 
digestive organs of poultry: Tape worms, round 
worms and flukes. The tape worm is a long, flat, 
segmented worm like those which infest man and 
other animals ; the round worm is white and, as the 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 189 

name indicates, round, and varies in length from one- 
third of an inch to five inches; the fluke is small, 
flat, and usually oval in shape. 

For tape worm Salmon recommends a teaspoon 
of powdered pomegranate root mixed in the mash 
for every fifty birds. Follow this with a dose of 
castor oil for individual birds, or Epsom salts in the 
mash. Powdered areca nut in doses of thirty to 
forty-five grains, mixed with butter and made into 
pills; male fern in the form of powder (dose, thirty 
grains to one dram) , or of liquid extract (dose, fif- 
teen to thirty drops), and give morning and evening 
before feeding; and oil of turpentine (one to three 
teaspoons) forced through a small, flexible catheter 
that has been oiled and passed through the mouth 
and aesophagus to the crop, are all effective remedies 
for tape worm. A dose of Epsom salts or castor oil 
should follow each. Areca nut and male fern are 
said to produce bad effects when given to turkeys. 

For round worms Salmon prescribes thymol (one 
grain made into a pill with bread and butter to each 
fowl) or santonica (worm seed) in doses of seven or 
eight grains. A purge should follow each. 

Turpentine is a time-honored remedy for worms. 
When many birds are affected, give a tablespoon to a 
gallon of drinking water and a teaspoon to a quart 
of moist mash. 

Pumpkin seeds, chopped or ground, and chopped 
garlic bulbs are both excellent remedies. The birds 
should fast 12 hours or more before any treatment 
is given. 

Leg Weakness 

This term is sometimes used to indicate lameness 
due to rheumatism in adult birds, but it more often 
refers to a disease in young chickens that have been 
raised in brooders. 



190 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

The affected chickens first walk unsteadily, finally 
they tumble over and seem unable to stand alone. 
Then they grow weak, fail to feather out properly 
and are most unhappy objects. 

Treatment consists mainly in removing the cause, 
which is lack of exercise and overfeeding with fat- 
producing foods. Chickens on range are never trou- 
bled in this way. Put the chicks, if possible, where 
they can have range. If this cannot be done, give 
them deep litter and make them scratch for their 
grain. Feed plenty of green food, skim milk, wheat, 
bran and oatmeal. Cut out corn and corn meal. San- 
born recommends rubbing the legs with tincture of 
arnica and adding one-half teaspoon of tincture of 
nux vomica to each quart of drinking water. 

Bumhlefoot 

Jumping from too high a perch onto a hard floor 
often produces a bruise on the bottom of the foot, 
especially of a heavy hen. These bruises sometimes 
swell and become abscesses, and there is fever, dull- 
ness and pain. The cavity should be opened and 
washed out with carbolized water or some other good 
disinfectant. Then apply a healing ointment or 
paint the surface of the cavity with a solution of 
nitrate of silver, bandaging carefully to keep the 
dirt out. I have found soaking the foot twice a day 
in warm witch hazel an effective remedy for these 
bruises. If care is taken not to make the perches 
more than two or two and a half feet from the floor 
for heavy hens, and two or three inches wide, there 
will be little trouble of this sort. 

Diseases of the Oviduct 

Diseases of the oviduct are quite common and 
more difficult than other diseases to prevent and 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 191 

treat, since the causes are not so clearly understood. 
On the other hand, since they are in many cases 
local, instead of constitutional, a cure, when effected, 
is more likely to be permanent. 

Dr. Pearl says: **The general symptoms of the 
commoner diseases of the oviduct are. very much like 
those of constipation. The poultryman watching his 
birds is indeed rather likely to confuse the two. But 
if so no harm is done. The thorough cleaning out of 
the alimentary tract and stimulation of the liver in- 
dicated in the treatment of constipation is the very 
best thing to be done in cases of inflammation and 
similar disorders of the oviduct." 

Four diseases of the oviduct demand considera- 
tion : 

1. Inflammation of the Oviduct. — This is one 
of the most important and common of this class of 
diseases. It is caused sometimes by irritation due to 
too frequent laying or too stimulating foods; some- 
times by the laying of too large eggs or the breaking 
of eggs within the oviduct; sometimes by infection 
of the lining membranes of the oviduct. 

Hill ^'Diseases of Poultry" gives the following 
symptoms: "A bird affected with inflammation of 
the egg passage suffers acutely. At first there is a 
continual and violent straining (sometimes result- 
ing in apoplexy). The wings are drooped and the 
feathers puffed out. The vent is hot. As the inflam- 
mation proceeds the bird becomes more and more 
mopish and exhausted, but does not strain so vio- 
lently. Ultimately the temperature becomes lower, 
the body cold, and with a few convulsive gasps the 
sufferer dies." 

Treatment must be early if it is to be successful^ 
Give a purgative dose of Epsom salts (half a tea- 
spoon for a full-grown fowl) and follow with one- 



192 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

half drop of tincture of aconite root or a one-tenth 
grain aconite root tablet three times a day. All stim- 
ulating foods and condiments should be cut out of the 
diet at once, and a light ration with plenty of green 
food given. 

2. Prolapse of the Oviduct. — "If there is a 
mass of red or bloody tissue projecting from the 
vent, one is safe in diagnosing prolapsus." This is 
caused by straining to lay a very large egg, by strain- 
ing to lay when there is an obstruction in the ovi- 
duct, by constipation, or by a lump of feces lodged 
in a blind pocket of the cloaca. 

Treatment. — There is nothing to be done, 
when such a condition is noted, but to remove the 
cause, if this is possible, and to replace the prolapsed 
tissue. Dr. Pearl gives these directions: 

"If the bird is constipated give it a rectal enema 
of warm, soapy water, followed by one-quarter tea- 
spoon of Epsom salts by the mouth. If there is a 
lump of feces lodged in the cloaca this should be 
carefully removed. The protruding mass of tissue 
should be washed with a warm 1-to-lOOO bichloride 
of mercury solution or a warm one-half per cent 
cresol solution. After the protruding parts are 
thoroughly cleansed they should be well greased with 
vaseline. Then with the fingers well greased an 
effort should be made to replace the protruding mass 
in the body. In doing this one should proceed with 
the greatest gentleness. In most cases, with care 
and gentleness, it is possible to reduce the prolapsus ; 
that is, to get the extruded tissue back into the body 
in approximately its normal position." 

In order to insure contraction of the walls of the 
oviduct so as to hold the parts in place, some experts 
recommend the use of ergot, but Dr. Pearl holds that 
ergot is too violent a poison, and that a lump of ice 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 193 

in the cloaca and renewed as necessary and kept for 
some hours may yield better results. The bird 
should be kept in a small coop, partly darkened, so 
that it will be as quiet as possible for a few days. 

3. Obstruction of the Oviduct, ''Egg-bound'\ 
— This . is the commonest of all abnormal con- 
ditions of the oviduct, and is caused by the egg 
being too large or by exhaustion or paralysis of the 
muscular walls of the oviduct. A hen that is egg- 
bound goes often to the nest, but is unable to lay. 
She becomes restless and afterward dull, and by 
pressure of the finger about the vent the egg can be 
felt. Treatment should not be hasty, for sometimes 
the hen will ultimately, though with difficulty, rid 
herself of the egg. When there is no doubt that she 
cannot pass it, try : 

1. Holding the hen over a vessel of boiling water 
to help relax the muscles. 

2. If this does not work, oil the vent with a 
feather, after the hen has rested for an hour, and 
give her a powder composed of one grain of calomel 
and one-twelfth grain of tartar emetic. This can 
be given in a bread pill. If this acts properly the 
hen will improve in a few hours, and a second pow- 
der two days later will probably complete the cure. 

3. If the egg can be seen or pushed into sight, it 
may easily be punctured with an awl or a large darn- 
ing needle, and the contents removed. In such case 
the shell must be carefully removed, bit by bit. I 
have performed this operation more than once, and 
it is very easy. 

In all these cases the bird should be kept quiet and 
fed a light ration without any fat-forming food, but 
with plenty of green food. 

4. Rupture of the Oviduct. — It sometimes hap- 
pens when the oviduct is obstructed or inflamed that 



194 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

its walls break and let the contents escape into the 
abdominal cavity. These cases can sometimes be 
cured, but death usually results in a few days, and 
it is not considered profitable to attempt treatment. 
It is better to prevent it by selecting medium sized 
eggs for hatching, for the trouble usually arises 
from a hen's trying to lay an egg too large for her 
size. Select breeders that are of good size and wide 
bodied. 

Vent Gleet 

"This is a true venereal disease in poultry," says 
Dr. Pearl. ''It usually begins with a hen, but is 
transmitted in copulation to the male and by him to 
other birds in the flock." There is a whitish dis- 
charge from the vent and constant effort to void 
excrement. 

Wright outlines this treatment: "Give thirty 
grains Epsom salts, and twice a day inject first a 
four per cent solution of cocaine, and immediately 
afterwards a solution of nitrate of silver, four grains 
to the ounce. The fifth day commence a small copaiba 
capsule daily, and inject acetate of lead, one dram to 
the pint. Feed rather low meanwhile and dust sore 
places with iodoform or aristol. If not well after 
two or three weeks, kill the bird, for the disease is 
not quite free from danger; if the operator should 
touch his eyes accidentally before he has cleansed 
his hands, the result might be a most violent inflam- 
mation." 

Another treatment, recommended by Director 
Quisenberry, consists in holding the diseased bird in 
a pan of hot water which contains two per cent of 
Zenoleum or Creolin. After the inflamed parts are 
thoroughly cleansed, which vill take from ten to 
twenty minutes, inject a solution of permanganate 
of potash and dust with iodoform. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 195 

Air Puff 

Air blisters often show themselves in young 
chicks. The skin puffs out and seems like a bladder 
of wind. It comes on the abdomen, sides and under 
the wings and neck. Prick the blisters with a needle 
to let out the air. Add carbonate of iron, alternated 
with granulated charcoal, daily in the food. The diet 
should be oatmeal principally, with plenty of sharp 
grit within reach. 

VICES 

Fowls sometimes contract annoying habits, which, 
while they are often due to lack of exercise or proper 
diet, do not affect the health. These are called vices. 

Feather Eating 

Feather eating among fowls is due to a lack of 
animal food, to body lice or other vermin, or to con- 
finement in small quarters where there is no oppor- 
tunity for hunting and scratching. 

See first of all that the birds are free from lice, 
and that their houses are not infested with mites. 
Give them more meat, either in the form of green 
cut bone or in a well-cooked mash, with vegetables, 
green pepper pods and a little linseed meal. A little 
sulphur in the mash in summer is good for them. 
Give a teacup of sulphur once a week in the mash 
for twenty-five hens. If possible, give free range. 
Where this is not possible dig grain into the ground 
for them to scratch out; hang up heads of cabbage 
or other greens for them to peck at, and give plenty 
of good, clean scratching litter. An ointment con- 
sisting of a teaspoon of extract of aloes to a cup of 
lard, the two being well mixed, rubbed on the feath- 
ers around where the bird has been plucked, will 
usually put an end to the trouble. 



196 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

Egg Eating 

Egg eating is usually the result of faulty nest con- 
struction whereby the eggs are allowed to roll in 
front of the hen. A nest that is too large or per- 
fectly flat, or that for any reason allows the eggs to 
roll out from under the hen, encourages egg eating. 
Sometimes an egg is broken in the nest, and the 
hens, from eating the broken egg, get a liking for the 
taste of egg and soon find that they can break them 
for themselves. Usually the darker a nest is, the 
less danger there is of the hens getting this expen- 
sive habit, and it can usually be prevented by gather- 
ing the eggs as soon as possible after they are laid. 

When the habit is once formed it is difficult to 
break, and often the only cure is to eat the hen. 
Filling an egg shell with a mixture of cayenne pep- 
per or other disagreeable but harmless condiments 
or drugs, and leaving it in the nest for the hen to 
taste, will sometimes effect a cure. Leaving china 
eggs in the nest or about the house for the hens to 
peck at is also discouraging. Director Quisenberry 
says: "If the hen persists in this bad habit, trim 
the point of her beak till it bleeds." 

Toe Picking 

The habit of picking each others' toes is one which 
White Leghorn chicks which are closely confined 
sometimes develop. Sometimes this indicates lack 
of animal food, and it is well to give extra meat in 
some form when toe picking is discovered. The use 
of deep scratching litter is a good preventive, and 
keeping the chicks busy is another. It is always 
necessary to remove the injured chicks from the 
flock, for the taste of blood drives the flock wild, and 
they v^ill soon kill the chick that has blood about it. 



CHAPTER XI 

Turkeys 

The turkey, when it can be raised successfully, is 
perhaps the most profitable of all kinds of poultry. 
On range where it can pick up its food it costs much 
less to feed than a chicken, and prices are always 
high, for the demand always exceeds the supply. 

THE TURKEY A WILD BIRD 

The turkey, it must never be forgotten, is not a 
domestic bird, accustomed by centuries of artificial 
feeding and housing to eating what is set before it 
and being thankful if it happens to be well fed ; it is 
a wild bird with a wild bird's ways. It is its nature 
to pick up its food, here a bug, there a grasshopper, 
a weed seed or a nibble of grass — never much at a 
time, and always plenty of little stones and animal 
food, and our way of feeding — perhaps I should say 
stuffing — fowls is absolute destruction to this deli- 
cate wild creature. There is no doubt in my mind, 
after more than one bitter experience, that ninety- 
nine out of every hundred turkeys that come to their 
death die from overfeeding. The person undertak- 
ing to raise turkeys must write this rule on the 
tablets of memory and never for a moment forget 
or ignore it — "Keep them hungry." And this means, 
not merely give them what they will eat up clean, 
but make the meal so small that they will be always 
begging for more. 

In matters of care and housing, as well as in feed- 
ing, this inherent wildness of the turkey must always 
be considered. The turkey is naturally a forager, 



198 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

and this means that it must have range over which 
to forage. Probably one difficulty most frequently 
encountered here in California is that most peo- 
ple are unable to give their turkeys the range 
they need. ^Mien we say the turkey cannot bear con- 
finement, we do not mean that it ^^ill thrive if it is 
allowed to run on a lot or two, or that a good-sized 
flock will have range enough on a few acres. Range 
for turkeys means land enough to pick up their 
living on and something there to pick up. Five 
hundred turkeys to forty acres is the lowest estimate 
I have seen of the land actually required for raising 
these birds. That would be about twelve birds to 
the acre. Is it any wonder people who try to raise 
a flock of a dozen or so on a town lot do not succeed ? 
I have raised ten fine turkeys this summer on three 
lots, but they have eaten up the lawn, the alfalfa 
patch and all my tomatoes. 

And even an acre to twelve birds is not always 
enough, for there is a good deal of land in this state 
that would not support six birds to the acre. We 
have the rocky hillsides, to be sure, which make a 
good ranging place for turkeys, but we lack the 
shady woods where bugs and worms gi'ow in abun- 
dance, and we are not even well supplied vdxh grass- 
hoppers. The best turkey range in California is a 
field of newly cut wheat or oat stubble. 

Again, in the question of shelter the wildness of 
the turkey asserts itself. Chickens will thrive in a 
well-ventilated house ; turkeys must have the big out- 
doors for their bedroom, the sky for their roof. It 
is a question whether turkeys need a roof in any 
part of the United States. Certainly they need 
no protection in California except perhaps some 
shed where they may go in hea\w storms. This is 
adult birds, of course. Poults need to be well pro- 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 199 

tected at first, but before they are three months old 
mine find a roosting place on top of a six-foot fence, 
and I do not interfere with them. Turkeys that 
roost out will rarely, if ever, be troubled by colds or 
roup. 

HOW TO BEGIN 

A prominent breeder has said : ''The best way to 
begin with turkeys is to buy a trio of the very best 
birds you can get. If you cannot afford a trio, buy a 
pair; if you cannot afford a pair, buy a setting of 
eggs." This is all right if you already know how to 
raise turkeys and to care for them. If you do not, 
buy a setting of eggs from ordinary market stock, 
hatch them under your own hens and see if you can 
raise them. You will learn in time, and if you 
manage to raise only half of what you hatch you will 
be paid for your trouble. 

THE BREEDING STOCK 

The first thing to be looked for in purchasing 
breeding birds is vigor. If this is important with 
chickens it is doubly so with turkeys, for if your 
breeding stock is weak you will be certain to lose a 
very large per cent of your young stock. Disregard 
of the rules for selecting and mating to secure vigor 
is said to be the cause of the dread disease, black- 
head, which has destroyed the turkey industry in 
parts of the east. 

Breeding stock should be well matured, strong, 
healthy and not overfat. Above all the hens and the 
tom should not be related. Skillful breeders can 
sometimes line-breed by mating sire to daughter or 
son to mother for the sake of securing fancy points, 
but no one but an expert should ever attempt in- 
breeding. Vigor invariably suffers if this is done. 



200 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

It is best to buy a new torn of entirely different blood 
each season. 

The best mating is that of a two-year-old hen with 
a yearling cock, or vice versa. Some breeders prefer 
to use an old cock with pullets because the pullets 
lay more eggs than hens, but two-year-old hens will 
have larger, stronger poults. A turkey is not fully 
mature till it is from two to three years old, and a 
good breeder may be used for breeding for several 
seasons after it has become mature. 

One tom will take care of from eight to twelve 
hens and sometimes suffices for fifteen or twenty. 

Size is of prime importance in breeding stock, for 
size is what every customer wants and what every 
judge cuts most severely on, but it is not desirable 
that breeding birds should be oversize, for a forty- 
pound bird is a drug on the market. 

Size does not mean weight; it means frame. In 
selecting breeders from a flock of young birds, pick 
the tall, rawboned, rangy ones. They may be little 
heavier at six months old than the short, chunky 
ones, but they are the birds that will put on 
weight later. Fat is never desirable except in a bird 
that is ready for market. 

In breeding for size select a female that is tall and 
rangy with a deep, long body, broad back and full- 
rounded breast, and mate her with a male that is 
fully up to standard weight. Sometimes good re- 
sults can be secured from a female that is under 
weight, but it is never safe to use a small tom. 

It is poor policy to sell off the early-hatched birds 
because they are larger at Thanksgiving time and 
to keep the late-hatched birds for breeders. Early- 
hatched birds are almost alwayJB more vigorous. 
Especially unwise is it to use a late-hatched, small- 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 201 

boned torn or a poorly marked one, for the torn is 
half the flock. 

Breeding stock should never be allowed to get fat. 
Infertility is almost sure to result. About a month 
before the birds begin to lay, which is usually in 
February or March, some breeders put them on 
''starvation rations," a diet of oats, meat and vege- 
tables. It is also important that breeding birds have 
range with plenty of grass. Oats and wheat are the 
best grains for breeders. Ground bone given once 
or twice a week mixed with bran is said to help 
fertility, but as a rule turkey eggs are fertile except 
when the birds are too fat. 

LAYING AND HATCHING 

A turkey hen lays from two to four clutches of 
eggs, with from twelve to twenty eggs in a clutch. 
It is customary among breeders not to allow the 
turkey hen to sit till she has laid two litters. The 
first eggs laid are hatched by chicken hens, which 
many prefer to turkeys because of their quieter 
disposition, but the turkeys are made to mother them 
in the following way : 

The eggs of the first clutch are put under the 
chicken hens about three weeks before the turkey 
hen is likely to become broody after laying her 
second clutch. As it takes turkey eggs four weeks 
to hatch, the turkey hen will have a week in which to 
settle down on the nest and get ready for the poults. 

As soon as the turkey shows signs of broodiness 
she is carefully removed at night to a nest that has 
been prepared for her in a barrel. The barrel may 
be laid on its side and fastened firmly in place or 
stood on end, with an opening cut in the side for the 
bird to go in and out. Whichever way you use it, 
the main thing is to make the nest dark by covering 



202 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

the opening, for a turkey is not trained to sit quite 
as easily as a hen and must have a dark, quiet place. 
China eggs are put under the turkey, and after a 
day or so she is allowed to come off and eat. 

When the poults have hatched and are dried off, 
two or three are put under her at night, or she may 
be given part of the eggs to hatch. She will usually 
take all the poults and mother them without further 
trouble. The turkey hen, as well as the chicken hen, 
should be thoroughly dusted with lice powder so that 
there may be no lice when the poults are hatched. 

Some breeders allow the turkey to hatch her last 
clutch of eggs; others prefer to have all incubation 
done by chicken hens. A turkey can cover from 
sixteen to eighteen eggs, a hen from eight to ten. 
Turkey eggs hatch as well in incubators as they do 
under hens, but raising poults in brooders is rarely 
a success. When the incubator is used for hatching, 
either turkey or chicken hens should be used for 
mothers. 

All my hatching and raising of turkeys has been 
done with chicken hens, and I have found them 
entirely satisfactory as mothers if they are managed 
a little. A hen cannot be allowed to run at large 
with poults, for she will drag them out in the wet 
grass in the early morning and very likely forget, in 
her zeal for finding the early worm, that her charges 
need hovering; neither can she be allowed to feed 
them, for she will feed them to death; but it is not 
necessary to permit her to do these things and she is 
otherwise an excellent and devoted mother. A Buff 
Orpington hen of mine last spring hatched and 
raised ten turks from ten eggs ; even a turkey mother 
could have done no better. 

In dry weather it is sometimes best to sprinkle 
the eggs with warm water once or twice the last 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 203 

week, but this does not always improve the hatch 
and should be done with judgment, if at all. It is 
safer, I think, to use no moisture unless the weather 
is exceedingly dry or the eggs are slow in pipping; 
and then, if it seems necessary, to immerse the eggs, 
two or three at a time, in a pail of water which has 
been warmed to 100 degrees. 

Nests for turkey hens are made about as for 
chicken hens, except that they are wide and shallow, 
about the size of a wash-bowl, but not so deep. A 
piece of grass sod turned upside down and hollowed 
out is the best nest. 

Turkey eggs should be collected daily and kept in 
a place with a temperature of from 50 to 60 degrees. 
If they are kept long they should be turned occa- 
sionally. When the eggs are removed from the nest 
china eggs should be left in their place, for turkeys 
do not like an empty nest. 

FEEDING AND CARE OF THE POULTS 

It is in rearing the young that most of the losses 
in turkey culture occur. After the age of three 
months a turkey is as easily cared for as a chicken, 
much more easily if it has proper range, and almost 
as hardy. 

Leave the poults quiet in the nest for 48 hours 
after they are hatched. If the hen will eat she may 
be given a little wheat out of the hand, but my ex- 
perience is that a good mother is rarely willing to 
eat unless she can feed her babies. At the end of the 
48 hours, or sooner if they seem very lively, trans- 
fer hen and poults to an open front coop with a wire 
run. Fasten the hen into the coop by means of slats 
or wire and let the poults go in and out as they 
please. If you have a small, clean pen where they 
are protected from the wind this will be better than 



204 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

the coop and run the first week. Let the hen move 
about with the poults while the sun is warm, but 
confine her in the coop till the sun is out in the morn- 
ing and after three in the afternoon. 

The brooding of poults differs from that of chicks 
in but two particulars : The poults must not be con- 
fined except for the first day or two, perhaps, and 
they need rather more hovering than chicks. It is 
on account of these two peculiarities that artificial 
brooding of turkeys is so difficult. 

The first meal of the baby turkeys consists of grit, 
charcoal and fresh water. The grit is to furnish 
grinding material for the second meal ; the charcoal 
to keep the digestion in order. 

What is the best "first feed" for baby turks? If 
one may judge by the published opinion of breeders 
east and west, there is none. But there is a distinct 
majority in favor of stale bread soaked in sweet milk 
and squeezed as dry as possible, with a little black 
pepper or charcoal, or both, added. Some give cot- 
tage cheese mixed with stale bread crumbs and 
chopped onion tops or dandelion leaves. Others still 
adhere to the time-honored boiled egg and bread 
crumb formula, but always with a little green added. 
One of the most successful breeders gives cottage 
cheese and onion tops with a sprinkling of black pep- 
per and recommends mixing in a raw egg from the 
first when it can be had. My own experience is that 
hard-boiled egg is fatal and cottage cheese absolutely 
essential the first three weeks, but some condemn 
both egg and curd and give nothing but fine grains, 
chick feed in which there is but little corn, and steel 
cut oats. 

I was very successful this year with the following 
mixture: Chop fine a young onion, a little tender 
lettuce and a small piece of very stale cracked wheat 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 205 

bread. To a teaspoon of this mixture add a tea- 
spoon of cottage cheese, a little black pepper and 
a sprinkling of fine chick grit. After a day or two 
I began adding a little steel-cut oats or cracked 
wheat. I fed only a teaspoon of this at first to ten 
turkeys and the hen, but the hen got very little for 
the turkeys were so ravenous. Most breeders say 
three times a day is often enough to feed, but my 
poults were so very hungry I felt obliged to feed five 
times a day, and the meal was soon increased to two 
teaspoons. 

The hen is always a problem in feeding poults, for 
she will not eat unless she can feed them, but I let 
her manage the first week on what her starving 
babies would let her have, and she did not suffer. 
A good fat hen does not mind fasting while she is 
caring for her brood. 

After ten days I reduced the number of meals to 
three but gave a head of lettuce once a day between 
meals. I gradually added more oats, either steel- 
cut or rolled, leaving off the bread, but they had 
the cottage cheese once a day until they were five 
weeks old, and always, at least once a day, chopped 
onion or onion tops. Onion seems to be the one thing 
which is absolutely necessary to a young turkey's 
welfare, for its liver is its weak point and must al- 
,ways be considered. 

When they were two or three weeks old I began 
adding a little whole wheat to the ration and I al- 
ways put grit in the food at least once a day. As 
they grew older and were able to pick up more of 
their living I worked them onto a diet of chopped 
onions with dry bran or shorts for breakfast, whole 
wheat or wheat and rolled oats for supper and a 
little green at noon. I think shorts is rather better 
than bran, for bran is laxative. Occasionally I mixed 



206 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

in a little ground bone to help them make frame or 
gave a meal of chopped liver mixed with rolled oats 
and chopped onion, but I am not sure that this was 
any improvement. The main thing in feeding young 
turkeys, I am satisfied, is, not what you feed them 
(providing always they get onion), but how much, 
and next year I shall feed less than I did this year. 
Turkeys that have ample range need very, very little. 
Whatever is or is not fed, it is safest not to feed 
corn in any form until the poults are at least three 
months old. In the Middle West many breeders do 
use it successfully, but in this climate turkeys cannot 
stand it and it is not so cheap that there is any object 
to be gained by using it. I feed a little kafir corn 
just for variety after the poults are three months 
old, but it seems to be best not to feed Indian corn 
till about a month before Thanksgiving. 

COOPS 

Any open front coop that would be suitable for a 
hen and her chicks will do for young turkeys, only 
it must be high enough for the hen to stand up in 
and move about comfortably. I have found a dry 
goods box about three feet deep, three feet high 
and three feet wide a good brood coop for both chicks 
and turkeys. To the front of this I attach a wire 
run three feet wide and six feet long. At first the 
hen is kept in the wooden coop and the young ones 
are not allowed outside the wire run, but after a few 
days, depending on the weather, the hen is confined 
only by the wire run and the turks have their lib- 
erty. When the mother is a turkey hen, it seems 
wise to let her go where she will after three or four 
weeks, but a chicken hen is a better mother if she 
is confined. 

The coop should be moved to clean ground every 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 207 

day, for turkeys are more sensitive to filth than 
chicks, and the wood coop should be hosed or sprayed 
with disinfectant, and supplied with clean litter very 
often. All coops for poults should have board floors, 
and an oilcloth cover for the wire run should be 
ready for rainy days or foggy mornings. In really 
rainy weather it is better to move the coop under a 
roof, if possible, and keep the poults indoors till the 
sun shines, for damp weather is very hard on them. 

As the poults grow older they can stand more 
dampness, but they should be kept out of the wet 
grass till they are several weeks old. If the hen is 
confined the poults may go far enough to wet their 
feet a little, but they will always come back to be 
warmed, and the hen will be ready to warm them. 

When the poults are old enough to roost, at five 
or six weeks, it is a good plan to provide a coop 
with low roosts. Cover the ground under the roosts 
with clean straw or leaves and let the poults cuddle 
on the floor or roost as they please. They will soon 
learn to roost and then they will look for a higher 
perch on fence or tree-limb. 

GRIT AND CHARCOAL 

Sharp grit and powdered charcoal are both very 
necessary to a young turkey's diet. Grit should al- 
ways be within reach, and it is a good plan to add 
it to the chopped feed the first few weeks to make 
sure that they get enough. Charcoal is a prevent- 
ive of diarrhea and indigestion. 

LICE 

Next to overfeeding, lice are probably the most 
potent cause of untimely death in young turkeys. 
One reason for this is that it is hard to see the lice 
on turkeys for they hide among the quills of the 



208 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

wing feathers. Another is that lice powder is some- 
times weak and though the poults may have been 
well powdered they still have lice. 

Any hen that hatches turkeys should be well powd- 
ered with a good strong louse powder when the eggs 
are given her and just before they are due to hatch 
and once between. For the young poults I prefer 
buhach insect powder. Dust them till they look 
yellow all over, and dust regularly once a week 
whether you think they need it or not. When you 
look for lice raise the short feathers on the shoulders 
directly over the large quills, spread the wing and 
examine carefully the outside of the wing. This is 
where the lice like to hide. You will rarely find 
them under the wing. 

A little olive oil or vaseline on the lice, if you see 
them, will kill them instantly. Never use kerosene 
on turkeys. A little tincture of iodine applied with 
a feather to head, wing feathers and the fluff about 
the vent is said to be an absolute preventive of lice. 

FATTENING TURKEYS 

It is another evidence of the wild nature of tur- 
keys that they cannot be fattened by confining them 
as chickens can. When they are shut up they lose 
their appetite and eat little if anything. When it is 
time to fatten them, some time in October, put them 
on a diet of whole corn and they will quickly put on 
flesh. Old corn should always be used for new corn 
often causes diarrhea. 

Turkeys should always be kept away from chick- 
ens, partly because they need a different diet, partly 
because they are so much more susceptible to filth 
diseases. 

VARIETIES AND STANDARD WEIGHTS 

The American Standard of Perfection recognizes 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 209 

seven varieties of turkeys: Bronze, Black, White 
Holland, Narragansett, Buff, Bourbon Red and 
Slate. Only three of these, the Bronze, White Hol- 
land and Bourbon Red, are bred in California to any 
extent. 

The Mammoth Bronze has long been the most 
popular variety. Standard weights are as follows: 

Lbs. Lbs. 

Adult cock 36 Cockerel 25 

Yearling cock 33 Hen 20 

Pullet 16 

The White Holland was originally a sport from 
the Bronze. It is much liked by persons who prefer 
a smaller bird than the Bronze, and is called "the 
stay-at-home turkey," because it is less inclined to 
roam than other varieties. Standard weights are: 

Lbs. Lbs. 

Adult cock 28 Hen 18 

Cockerel 20 Pullet 14 

The White Holland is particularly suitable for a 
market bird because of its smaller size as com- 
pared to the Bronze, but it is being bred larger, 
cocks weighing 40 pounds being found in many 
breeding yards. 

The Bourbon Red turkey has more wild blood 
than the other varieties mentioned, being a de- 
scendant of the wild yellow turkey. Its friends 
claim that it is hardier than other varieties, and its 
smaller size makes it a little more suitable for a 
market fowl than the Bronze. Standard weights 
are: 

Lbs. Lbs. 

Cock 30 Hen 18 

Cockerel 22 Pullet 14 



210 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

DISEASES 

Turkeys are subject to all diseases that affect 
chickens, but their weak point is their liver. When a 
turkey seems dull and sluggish, inclined to stand or 
sit with drooping wings, and refuses to eat, look 
first for lice. If none are found, diagnose a dis- 
turbed liver. There is usually more or less diarrhea 
in these cases, so the diarrhea is the thing to rem- 
edy first. Boiled rice is said to be an excellent 
remedy and a diet of chopped onion and lettuce for a 
few days is very beneficial, if the bird can be in- 
duced to eat, but loss of appetite is usually the first 
symptom of illness so there must be a little doctor- 
ing. 

Probably there is nothing better than quinine in 
these cases. I must confess I have not found it 
much help, but it is generally recommended. Give 
the sick bird first either a liver pill or a calomel pill 
containing one-tenth grain, once a day for three 
days and follow with a quinine pill once a day till 
the bird is cured. 

A simple remedy which is said to be a sure cure 
for diarrhea is a red pepper pill which is made as 
follows: One tablespoon of red pepper mixed with 
two tablespoons of wheat middlings; moisten with 
water, cut into from four to six parts, roll each 
part into pill shape and bake hard in the oven. 
Give one pill three times a day till the droppings 
are improved, then give castor oil, a tablespoon 
to an adult bird or one-half tablespoon to a poult. 

Another disease to which turkeys are subject is 
known as pendulous crop. The crop becomes great- 
ly enlarged so that it sometimes interferes with 
walking, and is filled with a dark liquid. An east- 
ern breeder recommends baking powder, a teaspoon 
for an adult bird, for this trouble, but I have heard 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 211 

of a Southern California man who cured it by ban- 
daging the crop. 

In general the diseases of turkeys are the same 
as those of chickens and are cured by the same rem- 
edies, but if turkeys have range and sleep in the 
open, are kept free from lice and not overfed, they 
will be little troubled by disease. 

THE CRITICAL TIME 

It is often said that a poult a month old is as good 
as raised, and this is probably true if it has not been 
overfed during this month, but a turkey that has 
been overfed will often not show the effect of over- 
feeding till it is about two months old, when it will 
droop and die of liver trouble. Just about the time 
they begin to show the red is another critical time, 
and the poults should be given plenty of meat and 
green food till it is passed. 

Many breeders pull out or cut off the flight feath- 
ers of the wings when the poults are a week old. 
They are said to be much stronger and to grow 
much faster when they have not the weight of the 
wings to carry. Probably it is with poults as with 
Leghorns and other Mediterraneans, the strength 
of the body seems to go into the wings and cutting 
them gives the body a better chance. 

RULES FOR TURKEY RAISING 

The essentials for success in raising turkeys may 

be summed up in these eight rules: 

1. Don't overfeed. 

2. Keep them free from lice. 

3. Avoid dampness. 

4. Keep coops on clean ground. 

5. Give free range after the first month and plenty 

of room always. 



212 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

6. Use turkey hens for mothers if possible. 

7. Feed some green at every meal at first, and 

onions or onion tops at least once a day. 

8. Avoid corn the first three months. 





FIG. 40 WHITE DIARRHEA CHICKS. OXE SUCH MAY INFECT THE ENTIRE 

BROOD 




FIG. 41 AYLESBURY DUCKS 



CHAPTER XII 

Ducks and Geese 

DUCKS 

Ducks of the improved races, as they are now 
found on American farms and poultry plants, are 
of three general types: the meat type, the laying 
type and the ornamental type. 

To the meat type belong the Rouen, Aylesbury, 
Cayuga, Blue Swedish, Blue Termonde, Pekin, Mus- 
covy and Buff Orpington; to the laying type, the 
Indian Runner; to the ornamental, the Crested 
White duck. Gray and White Call ducks and Black 
East India ducks. The Mallard, or common wild 
duck, is the common ancestor of all these except 
the Muscovy, and is frequently captured and bred 
in domestication where its size becomes so increased 
after a few generations that it greatly resembles 
a small specimen of the Rouen duck. 

Meat Types. 

Only four varieties of ducks of the meat type are 
bred to any extent in California — the Aylesbury, the 
Muscovy, the Buff Orpington and the Pekin. The 
Muscovy is kept mainly as a fancy duck and the 
Buff Orpington, though an excellent market duck, 
cannot be considered a rival of the Pekin, which 
is the one duck extensively bred on commercial 
plants. 

The Pekin duck was brought to England from 
China in 1874 and to America the next year. It is 
the common duck of China and was from the first 



214 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

very large and very hardy. These qualities, to- 
gether with its rapid gro\vi;h, have commended it 
to breeders, and it has grown in popularity till it 
has come to be known as the one commercial market 
duck. On the large duck plants of Long Island and 
Pennsylvania these ducks are grown by the thou- 
sand for marketing as ''green ducks" at from ten 
to twelve weeks of age, when they weigh from six 
to nine pounds apiece. 

Rankin Methods. 

James Rankin, a Massachusetts man, has been 
called the ' 'Father of the Pekin Duck Industry in 
America," and his methods are still the standard 
for Pekin duck raising. Mr. Rankin gave his ducks 
no water except for drinking. The breeding houses 
w^ere divided into pens, in each of which 25 birds 
were kept. Early in the season five ducks were 
allowed to one drake, but later on six or eight ducks 
to one drake. 

When the breeders were selected from among the 
young ducks at the age of ten weeks, they were 
turned out to pasture in flocks of 200 each, for range 
is considered very necessary to the health and de- 
velopment of breeding ducks. Here they were fed 
twice a day all they would eat of the following mash 
mixture : 

Three parts, by measure, heavy wheat bran; one 
part low grade flour ; one part cornmeal ; 5 per cent 
beef scrap ; 3 per cent fine grit ; all the green feed 
they will eat in the shape of corn fodder, clover, al- 
falfa, oat fodder or green rye, cut fine. 

After they are brought into the breeding pens in 
the fall they are given, morning and night, the fol- 
lo^^ing mash : 

Equal parts, by measure, wheat bran and corn- 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 215 

meal ; 10 per cent beef scrap ; 20 per cent low grade 
flour; 10 per cent boiled turnips; mangel beets or 
potatoes; 15 per cent clover, alfalfa, green rye or 
refuse cabbage, cut fine; 3 per cent grit. At noon 
they get a light feed of corn and oats. Clean grit and 
oyster shell always before the birds in boxes. Mash 
never cooked, and always mixed with cold water. 
The houses are kept clean and well aired and the 
bedding frequently changed. Lighted lanterns kept 
in the yards at night to keep the ducklings quiet. 

The Indian Runner. 

The Indian Runner duck is the laying duck, and 
so famous has it become for the number of its eggs 
that it is often called "the Leghorn of the duck fam- 
ily." It is doubtful whether there is foundation for 
all the reports of phenomenal laying on the part of 
Runners, but they are undoubtedly as good layers 
as the average of hens, and probably better. The 
eggs usually bring a somewhat higher price, being 
large and absolutely free from tubercular taint. 

There are two colors of Runners, the fawn and 
white, which is the standard color, and the pure 
white, which is much less common, but is now a 
recognized variety. These ducks have been sup- 
posed to be natives of India, hence the name, but 
Robinson says there is little doubt that they were 
imported from the Netherlands. They are much 
more erect in carriage than the Pekin and much 
smaller, standard weights being: drake, four and 
one-half pounds; duck, four pounds. The body is 
long and narrow, the breast well developed. The 
fawn and white or (sometimes) gray and white 
variety is colored in a peculiar pattern, the dark 
color occurring in patches on the crown and cheeks 
and on the back, breast and fore part of the body 



216 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

like a jacket. Runner ducklings make very good 
broilers, dressing very plump and meaty at from 
two and one-half to three pounds each at six weeks 
of age. 

Raising Baby Ducks. 

Ducklings are far more easily raised than chicks. 
They require less heat and less hovering, are not 
troubled by lice nor subject to the diseases which 
beset chicks, and with just a little attention and 
heat will raise themselves. Many persons raise them 
in small numbers with hen mothers, but they are 
liable to be trampled to death by hens and do so 
well in fireless brooders that it is not at all neces- 
sary to use hens or heated brooders unless the 
weather is cold. 

The ducklings should be left in the nest two days 
after they are hatched. They will not eat if they 
are olfered food and they require warmth and quiet 
these two days. When they begin to try to climb 
out of the nest, about the morning of the third day, 
they may be taken from the hen and placed in a 
fireless brooder in a coop similar to that used 
for hen and chicks, with a wire run in front. When 
they are two weeks old they may be given range or 
put in a larger pen. 

The first few days they can be let out in the 
middle of the day, but should be put back in the 
brooder as it begins to grow cool toward night. A 
friend of mine who is very successful with Indian 
Runners gives them at first a "jug-mother." This 
is a jug of hot water, wrapped in flannel, which 
stands in their coop or in the run in front of it 
where the ducklings can easily run to it if they feel 
chilly, and they soon learn where to go to warm 
up. At night this is placed in their brooder box 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 217 

and covered with a blanket so that they may cuddle 
about it. After a week or so, depending on the 
weather, the "jug mother" is dispensed with. 

There is no better ''first feed" for ducklings than 
dry bread moistened with fresh milk and squeezed 
dry, with a small amount of clean sand added. 
Bread crumbs and rolled oats mixed, half and half, 
and moistened with milk, is also good. Some breed- 
ers use a still more complex ration at first, adding 
hard-boiled egg to the rolled oats and bread. What- 
ever feed is used, clean, sharp sand should always 
be part of it. 

Drinking water should be given warm the first 
ten days. Use a fountain such as is used for chicks, 
and remove after each meal, for the ducks should 
not be allowed to play in it or to get themselves 
wet. Drinking cold water or chilling the body by 
wetting the down sometimes causes cramps and 
brings the little life to a speedy end. 

If ducklings are to be brought to maturity with 
the greatest possible speed their rations must be 
carefully graduated, the mash being made richer 
as fast as they can bear it. The following is Mr. 
Rankings method of feeding young Pekins : 

First four days: Four parts wheat bran; one 
part cornmeal ; one part low grade flour ; 5 per cent 
fine grit. Feed four times a day. 

Four days to four weeks : Four parts wheat bran 
(by measure); one part cornmeal; one part low 
grade flour; 3 per cent fine grit; 5 per cent fine 
ground beef scrap (soaked first by scalding). Feed 
four times a day. Finely cut green clover, rye or 
cabbage fed freely. 

Four to six weeks: Three parts, by measure, 
wheat bran ; one part cornmeal ; one part low grade 
flour; 3 per cent fine grit; 5 per cent beef scrap; 



218 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

one per cent fine oyster shell; a liberal supply of 
green feed mixed in the mash. Feed four times a 
day. 

Six to eight weeks : The following, three times a 
day: Equal parts wheat bran, cornmeal and 15 
per cent low grade flour; 10 per cent beef scrap, 
10 per cent green food and 3 per cent grit. Keep 
oyster shell before them. Feed three times a day. 

Eight weeks till finish : One-half cornmeal ; equal 
parts bran and low grade fiour; 10 per cent beef 
scrap; 3 per cent grit. Oyster shell is kept before 
them and green feed given less freely till within ten 
days or two weeks of market time, and then omitted 
altogether. All mashes are made dry and crumbly, 
never gummy or pasty. 

Moist Mash Best, 

Ducks of all ages thrive best on soft food. Cracked 
corn and sometimes a little wheat may be fed, but 
only in limited quantities. When a moist mash is 
given morning and night cracked corn may be fed 
at noon. 

After ducklings are two or three weeks old any 
good mash mixture may be given such as the Maine 
or the Cornell mash, care being taken to watch the 
amount of beef scrap and regulate it according to 
the condition of the bowels. Ducklings are rather 
more easily affected by too laxative food than chicks, 
and whenever the bowels seem too loose the amount 
of beef scrap should be cut down. 

Runner ducklings do not need as forcing a ration 
as those given to Pekins. Some breeders give them 
after the first month a mash composed almost en- 
tirely of bran with a little beef scrap added, and 
cracked corn at noon, with plenty of green food 
either in the mash or between meals. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 219 

Sand or grit should be part of every meal. The 
duck has no crop and hence is unable to grind its 
food without plenty of grinding material. 

After ducks are a month old they may have a 
vessel of water large enough to dip their heads in, 
but they do not need to swim. Water for their 
heads keeps their eyes clean and their heads from 
becoming infested with vermin. 

Green feed is a very important part of a duck*s 
ration after the first two weeks. It is easy to see 
why this should be so, for the duck as found wild, 
inhabits low, marshy ground where there is a great 
deal of tender green growth. For the same reason 
animal food is necessary to take the place of the 
bugs and grubs a duck would find in its natural 
habitat. With feed at its present prices it is a ques- 
tion whether there is much profit in raising market 
ducks in confinement when all feed must be pur- 
chased, but when they can be given a moist, marshy 
range and forage for part of their living they ought 
to be fairly profitable. Indian Runners, being egg 
producers and smaller eaters than Pekins, ought to 
be more profitable. 

Hatching Duck Eggs. 

On all the large duck plants the eggs are hatched 
in incubators, and they hatch very well in this way, 
only needing a little more moisture than hens' eggs 
and a little lower temperature. 

Mr. Rankin's method of running the incubator is 
as follows: 

"The temperature of the egg chamber is main- 
tained at 102 degrees with a thermometer on a live 
egg until the animal heat begins to get well estab- 
lished, which is about the fifteenth or sixteenth day, 
when the heat is allowed to go to 103 degrees, at 



220 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

which point the temperature is maintained through- 
out the balance of the hatch. Readjustment of the 
regulating device is frequently necessary when run- 
ning a machine filled with strongly fertile eggs, as 
there is always a tendency to a rise of temperature, 
and this is considered a good sign. 

''The duck eggs are tested out after they have 
been incubated about seventy hours and all the clear 
eggs are sent to market. They are not in the least 
injured for culinary- purposes and will boil perfectly, 
which is considered one of the best tests of a fresh 
egg. In keeping qualities these tested out infertile 
eggs are superior to all others, as they will keep in 
perfect condition for months if kept in a cold dry 
place. 

"A second test is always made on the tenth or 
twelfth day and all eggs missed at first test, or those 
in which the germs have died, are removed. A final 
t€st is made on or about the twenty-fourth day. 
"UTienever a dead egg becomes putrid it is smelled 
out and removed. These can often be detected by 
color or marbled appearance of the shell. 

'The \\i.Ye cloth of the egg trays is covered with 
or replaced by burlap, which is less liable to injure 
eggs and makes turning easier, as the eggs do not 
roll about on it as they do on \^ire. Moisture is used 
in the machines from the eighteenth day and is 
considered a necessity- in incubating duck eggs. The 
usual method is to sprinkle the burlap and the eggs 
thoroughly with water at about the temperature 
of the eggs, the object being to saturate the air of 
the egg chamber T^ith moisture. 

On the twentj'-sixth day the eggs and trays are 
made quite wet with moderately warm water and 
the machine closed to remain so till the hatch is over. 
The ducklings are usually all out on the twenty- 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 221 

seventh day and are removed to brooders on the 
twenty- eighth." 

When duck eggs are hatched under hens they 
should be moistened occasionally after the first week 
by sprinkling them with warm water while the hen 
is off. Some breeders sprinkle them as often as 
every other day after the first week, some only occa- 
sionally, and a few not at all. Much depends on the 
weather, but in this dry climate some moisture is a 
necessity. Twenty-eight days is the time required 
for incubation of most duck eggs as well as for those 
of turkeys and geese. Muscovy duck eggs require 
five weeks. 

Diseases, 

# The pleasantest thing about duck culture is that 

the duck is not liable to disease as chickens are. To 
be sure, a duck that is deprived of its natural ration, 
sand, green stuff and animal food, will sooner or 
later suffer from indigestion, and perhaps die, but a 
duck that receives reasonable care is pretty sure to 
be a well duck. Roup, colds, tuberculosis and all the 
long list of chicken ills are practically unknown. 
When a duck is **off feed,'' in nine cases out of ten 
the trouble may be traced directly to improper 
feeding. Bedding and coops and runs should be kept 
reasonably clean, but the duck is not so easily af- 
fected by lapses in sanitation as other kinds of 
poultry and will stand a great deal of abuse. 

In practically all duck disorders it is safe to pre- 
scribe more green feed, more exercise and less hard 
grain. All green feed except lettuce should be cut 
fine. 

Sometimes a too liberal use of beef scrap causes 
bowel trouble. This should be guarded against by 
watching and cutting out part of the beef scrap if it 
seems necessary. 



222 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

Salt is quite poisonous to ducks and should never 
be put in their feed or left where they can reach it. 
Severe cases of poisoning among ducks have been 
caused by their getting at pickle brine or salt from 
ice cream freezers which had been carelessly thrown 
out. 

Leg weakness is sometimes caused in young ducks 
which are being forced for market by heavy feeding 
and too close confinement. It is better that all duck- 
lings should have some range. When they cannot 
be given range regularly, let them out often enough 
to keep their leg muscles strong or give them a pen 
in which there is room to run. Exercise is abso- 
lutely necessary for breeders. Dampness in the 
sleeping quarters is also a cause of stiffness and 
weakness in the legs. 

Shade is even more necessary to ducks and duck- 
lings than to hens and chicks. Instances are on rec- 
ord where ducks have died of sunstroke when they 
were carelessly left without shade in hot weather. 
A burlap sack spread over their coop is sufficient, 
but some protection from the sun they must have. 

GEESE 

There are seven standard varieties of geese : Gray 
Toulouse, White Embden, Gray African, Brown 
Chinese, White Chinese, Gray Wild and Colored 
Egyptian. 

Geese are not extensively raised in California, 
probably because there is too little damp ground and 
natural pasture to make them profitable. On farms 
in the river bottoms they might well be raised to a 
greater extent than they are, for they will forage 
for most of their living where they have a chance 
and are very easily raised. 

Geese are long-lived birds, some having been 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 223 

known to attain the age of forty years, while they 
frequently reach fifteen and twenty years. On this 
account it pays to secure good stock at the start. 
Geese are valuable as breeders as long as they live, 
but ganders should not be kept for breeding after 
three years of age. 

Mating and Hatching 

Geese are usually mated in trios or pairs. Breed- 
ing stock should be two years old and fully matured. 
The stock should be purchased in the fall so that the 
birds may become accustomed to their new surround- 
ings before the breeding season begins, and should 
be turned out to pasture until it is nearly time for 
the season to begin. If they have plenty of forage 

they will need no other feed except perhaps a little 
grain. A little before they are to be bred they may 
be given the following ration : Equal parts by mea- 
sure of bran, middlings and corn meal, with five 
per cent beef scrap added. They should have a liglit 
feed of this ration in the morning, with cracked 
corn at night. Ten per cent of the bulk of the daily 
ration should be green feed and cooked vegetables. 
The breeding season begins about February 1, 
though some geese begin laying earlier. They make 
their own nests and will lay from twelve to twenty 
eggs before becoming broody. As soon as the goos:* 
shows an inclination to sit, place her in a dark box 
or small coop and keep her there two or three day.": 
with water but no food. She will then begin laying 
again. The first and second clutches of eggs should 
be set under hens, but the goose should be permitted 
to hatch the third clutch. Goose eggs require thirty 
days for incubation. It is recommended that after 
the eggs have been sat upon for twenty-five days 



224 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 

they be taken from the nest and placed for about a 
minute in water heated to 104 degrees. 

Feeding Goslings 

After the goslings hatch they are left under the 
hen for twenty-four hours and are then moved to a 
dry, comfortable coop. The following rations for 
goslings are recommended by prominent breeders : 

(1) Two parts corn meal, 1 part shorts, 10 per 
cent beef scrap. Moisten with water till crumbly 
and feed what they will eat up clean three times a 
day for a month. After this grass and water is all 
they require. 

(2) For thirty-six to forty-eight hours give 
nothing but grass, then feed every two to three 
hours 1 part corn meal, 2 parts shorts moistened 
and squeezed almost dry. Avoid sloppy food and 
feed sparingly. After a week give scalded cracked 
corn and a grass run. 

Goslings should not be allowed to swim till fully 
feathered. 

Feeding Breeders 

The following rations are recommended for breed- 
ing stock : 

(1) Morning: Shorts and corn meal, equal parts, 
mixed to crumbly state with 10 per cent beef scrap. 
Feed only what they will eat up quickly. 

Afternoon: Whole grain, oats, barley and corn 
in small boxes. Plenty of shell and pure water and 
grass range. 

(2) Four parts bran, 2 parts shorts, 1 part corn 
meal. Ground meat and cooked vegetables fre- 
quently added. This ration is dampened with skim 
milk or water and fed morning and evening with a 
little whole corn at noon in winter. Grit and shell 
always before them. 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 225 

Geese require but the simplest shelter and do best 
when given liberty to roam as they please. They 
are so hardy, however, that they are often raised 
successfully with chickens, and a few would seem 
to be a valuable addition to any farm flock. 




Index 



Air Puff 195 

Alfalfa 80 

Aspergillosis 175 

Balanced Ration 84 

Beginning 10 

Breed, choosing 18 

classification 19 

American for farm 20 

only one 22 

Blue Ointment 149 

Breeding, line 122 

cross 124 

inbreeding 125 

Breeding Pen 114 

Breeding Stock, buying 13 

culling 114 

marks for vigor 115 

care and feeding 127 

exercise 128 

Broilers, Orpingtons 121 

ration for 106 

and fryers 136 

Bronchitis 177 

Brooders, fireless 71 

lamp 72 

colony house 73 

heated 75 

cold 78 

watch for mites 153 

Brooding 64 

warmth in 67 

crockery box for 68 

artificial 71 

Bumblefoot 190 

Canker 180 

Cans and Pans 166 

Capital, how much 17 

Capons 141 

Carbohydrates 82 

Catarrh 176 

Chicken Pox 171, 180 

Chicks, buying 12 

comfortable quarters 12 

hatching 23 

mortality 43 

hen hatched 46 

dead in shell 59 

marking 62 

rearing 64 

warmth essential 64 

overcrowding 65 

protect from lice 66 

cats and pests 66 

pure air for 67 

putting into coop 69 

caring for brooder 74 

jug for 75,166 

enemies of 76 



Chicks, exercise for 79 

keep growing 80 

feeding 90 

killed by sun 147 

Cockerel, pens 118 

fattening 137 

Comb, indicates health 172 

Contagion 170 

Conveniences 164 

Coops, and runs 66 

box for 68 

clean often 70 

broody 161 

Cresol 152 

Crop Bound 173 

Depluming Mite 183 

Diarrhea, white 184 

Digestibility 83 

Diseases, preventing 142 

and vices 170 

causes 170 

signs of 171 

common 172 

liver 172 

of turkeys 210 

of ducks 221 

Dry Mash 104 

Dry Picking 140 

Ducks 213 

meat types 213 

Rankin methods 214 

Indian Runner 215 

raising baby 216 

moist mash for 218 

hatching 219 

testing eggs 220 

diseases of 221 

Dust Bath 149 

Egg-maker 89 

Egg Eating 196 

Eggs, for hatching 14 

color 22 

production 23 

broken In nest 43 

composition 45 

selecting 46 

care of 46 

fertility 47 

testing 51 

throw off heat 55 

air cells 60 

effect of feeds on 105 

cost of dozen 105 

breeding for 119 

fall problem 129 

handling 132 

selling 133 

packing 134 



228 



POULTRY FOB PROFIT 



3, improving 135 

preserving 135 

turkey 201, 202 

hatching duck 219 

testing duck 220 

Exercise, necessity for 31, 156 

for chicks 79 

Extensive System 25 

Fancy Stock 23 

Fats 82 

Feather Eating 195 

Feed Troughs, keep clean 155 

Feeding, continuous 95 

laying hens 96 

methods of 103 

rules for Ill 

regularity Ill 

punctuality Ill 

variety 112 

plenty 112 

hygienic 155 

and sanitation 170 

Feeds 82 

animal 87 

green 87, 156 

condimental 89 

rape, best green 146 

don't buy moldy 155 

Females, number to male 118 

Fleas 154 

stick-tights 154 

Foodstuffs, defined 84 

Fountain, clean 155 

Fruit and Poultry 28 

Fryers 136 

Gapes 187 

Garden Hose 144 

Geese 222 

varieties 222 

mating and hatching 223 

feeding goslings 224 

feeding breeders 224 

allow liberty 225 

Germ, weakness 61 

Going Light 175, 181 

Goslings, feeding 225 

Grains, list of 85 

Grit, for chicks 68 

and shell 89 

Hatching, when , 40 

fall and winter 41 

how 42 

hens 44, 47, 50 

incubator 45 

rules 48 

Health, droppings indicate. . . .156 

Hen, setting 49 

feeding 52 

bodily requirements of 97 

feeding molting 109 

overfat 110 

size and shape 117 

Hen-Incubator 50 

Hoppers and Feeders 161 

House, requirements 28 



House, colony 32 

long 35 

farm flock 36 

California 37 

open front 37 

novel breeding 38 

tarred paper 39 

clean, necessary 143 

movable fixtures 143 

clean floor 143 

Incubating Coop 51 

Incubator, operating 53 

suggestions for running .... 54 

selecting 55, 56 

room 56 

use good oil 57 

floor 57 

moisture 58 

Insect Pests 148 

Intensive System 25 

Kerosene & crude carbolic. . .152 

emulsion 152 

Killing & Dressing 139 

Lamp, care 76 

Layer, marks 120 

old hens 128 

Leg weakness 189 

Lice 148 

ointment 149 

powder 150 

distillate 151 

on turkeys 207 

Limberneck 182 

Lowry Powder 150 

Market Poultry 106, 136 

Marketing 132 

Mating 118 

Meat Production 23 

Mites 151 

Moisture, in nest 53 

in incubator 58 

Molting, starving 110 

care during 127 

Nest, moisture 53 

material 145 

good 163 

Nest Boxes 49 

Nutritive Ratio 83 

narrow 84 

Oats, sprouting 88 

Oviduct, inflammation 191 

prolapse 192 

obstruction 193 

rupture 193 

Poultry Farm, locating 18 

water 14 

fertile soil 15 

transportation 15 

proximity to poultrymen. ... 16 

drainage 16 

exposure 16 

wind protection 16 

how much land 17 

Poultrymen, five classes 9 

Poults, protect 198, 202 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



229 



Poults, in nest. 203 

brooding 204 

Prepotency 119 

Producer, rules for 133 

Profit 9 

Proteins 82 

vegetables containing 86 

Pullets, separate 81 

feeding on range 108 

Rations, California 91, 102 

Cornell 92, 102 

Maine 92, 100 

Missouri 93, 100 

Purdue 94, 99 

Iowa 95 

things to consider 98 

sample 99 

New Jersey 100 

Ontario 101 

winter 101 

West Virginia 102 

Southern California 103 

fattening 106, 107 

Rats, protection from 30 

Rheumatism 182 

Roasters 139 

Rooster, vigorous 116 

gallantry 117 

half the pen 117 

Roosts, movable 31 

paint with tallow 153 

good 162 

Roup 178 

Scaly Leg 183 

Scratching Litter 80 

clean 155 

Sex, determining 126 

Shade 146 

deciduous orchard for 157 

Soil, purifying 145 

Sticking 140 

Summer, caring for hens in. . .157 



Summer Quarters 144 

Temperature, of hen 76 

Thermometer, test 58 

Ticks 153 

Tobacco Powder 153 

Toe Picking 196 

Trap-nest, using 121, 167 

Oregon 167 

homemade 168 

Trapnesting 119 

Tuberculosis 174 

Turkey, wild 197 

breeding stock 199 

hen and torn related 200 

breeding size 200 

breeding not fat 201 

laying and hatching 201 

broodiness in 201 

nests for 203 

coops for 206 

grit and charcoal 207 

fattening 208 

varieties 208, 209 

diseases 210 

critical time 211 

rules for raising 211 

Vent Gleet 194 

Ventilation 145 

Vigor, necessary 115 

cross breeding 125 

Water, fresh 70 

clean 155 

vessels for 160 

Water-glass 135 

Weakness, inherent 170 

Weather, protection from 29 

White Diarrhea 184 

White Leghorns for Eggs 19 

Whitewash, government 148 

and carbolic 154 

Worms 188 

Wryneck 182 



California Cultivator 




Best Farm Weekly 
on Pacific Coast 

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